‘No Traffic’ Lockdown Day-6 in City! Lots of Commodities at Stores but Not Many Buyers Today

‘No Traffic’ Lockdown Day-6 in City! Lots of Commodities at Stores but Not Many Buyers Today

Mangaluru: Just another day, just another rule in the City! While the City is still under lockdown, and also that the govt and district administration have issued certain guidelines in order to contain Covid-19, but a bunch of people are still ignorant who abuse the guidelines, especially not following social distancing during shopping- and the worst part is that there are quite a few motorists on streets unnecessary riding or driving, in spite of instructions from the govt and admin to stay home after the shopping time between 7 am to 12 noon ends. But in order to crack down on such violators the Police Commissioner Dr P S Harsha on Thursday, 2 April had issued a warning that any vehicles on street past 12.30 pm will be seized, and people have to face the consequences thereafter- and while enforcing that order, 154 vehicles were seized from that afternoon until evening.

And later in the evening of 2 April, DC Ms Sindhu Rupesh, Police Commissioner Dr P S Harsha and DK Superintendent of Police B M Laxmi Prasad had made some changes to the existing rule of Thursday, banning vehicles from 12.30 pm onwards- to ban of vehicles throughout the day, starting 3 April. In a message circulated it was stated that people should go walking to buy their groceries at stores nearby. The admin will soon start delivering of groceries to doorsteps, in order to make life of the residents easy. In case of medical emergencies, people should avail of ambulance service.This move was carried out to curb the unnecessary movement of private vehicles on road even after issuing several warnings to step out only during emergencies.

But the No Traffic rule is not applicable to health care personnel, media personnel, and those people on emergency jobs with proper admin issued pass. Under this new development, in the event of medical emergencies, people should avail the use of an ambulance or the admin will provide one if you call. Health workers, doctors, nurses, paramedics, hospital administrators will be allowed to commute in private vehicles from their home to the workplace. And for the media, if they produce a valid pass issued by the Department of Information and Public Relations, they will be allowed.

But for Mangaloreans going for shopping or doing errands, a vehicle is a must, even if the store or market is at walking distance. Not many in this City are used to walking to do their errands or shopping, and after the admin had issued the No Traffic rule from Friday onwards, there was hardly any commuters, vehicles on the road this morning- and the supermarkets, grocery stores, vegetable and fruits shops, including milk booths and medical shops showed hardly any customers, unlike yesterday when admin had permitted the shopping hours from 7 am till 12 noon, but there was no ban on vehicle movement like today.

Jagadish, the store manager at Horticultural Producers Co-operative Marketing and Processing Society (HOPCOMS) at Kadri speaking to Team Mangalorean said, “Recently CM Yeddyurappa had insisted that people should patronize govt based Hopcoms, which will carry all fresh fruits and vegetables, including eggs also throughout the day. Based on his comments, we have stocked lots of fresh fruits and vegetables this morning, but unfortunately there has been poor response from customers, unlike yesterday. Since 7 am till 8.30 am, we had eight customers today, but on Thursday, we had good number of customers. The low turn out of customers today, is the admin ban on movement of vehicles, and that us hurt our business. I only hope that people will come in for purchase in the later hours, if not there will lots of wastage of veggies and fruits”.

Only shop this morning that showed a long queue was at a ನ್ಯಾಯ ಬೆಲೆ ಅಂಗಡಿ (Justice Price Shop) in Pandeshwar

Suresh, a vegetable and grocery shopkeeper at Kankanady market said that he had purchased bulk of vegetable and fruits, after he had good sales on Thursday, but the situation this morning was totally different, with hardly any customers showing up at his shop- and the main reason being the movement of vehicles. “I bet I will face huge losses if the situation remains the same throughout the day or tomorrow. The admin should think before they make decisions/rules, which puts us in hardship”

Even the street side veg and fruit vendors had a few customers, unlike yesterday where they had brisk business. Even roadside fish vendors faced the same situation this morning. There were hardly any customers this morning at More Supermarket-Valencia and Martin’s Supermarket, also in Valencia- and due to short supply many shelves were seen empty. In spite of the admin stressing that citizens should make it a habit of walking to the grocery stores/supermarkets rather than driving or riding for purchases and also not to visit the supermarkets or shops unnecessary. Police have set up barricades at various locations to stop the entry/movement of vehicles, but in spite of that quite a few Covidiots are seen violating the guidelines driving and riding-until they get caught by the cops and face the consequences.

That is the story of this morning’s life in Mangaluru- keep your fingers crossed until what would be the verdict for tomorrow from the mouth of admin authorities-until then Stay Home, and Stay Safe!

Also Read Related Articles : 

• A Much RELAXED Lockdown Day-5! But Where’s All That Queue & Crowd Today?
• You’ve Seen Roads during Peak Hours in City? This is How the Roads Look during Lockdown-WOW!
• Cops Crackdown on Motorists being on Streets Past 12.30 pm as Banned by Police Commissioner
• City’s RELAXED Lockdown Day-4? On Your Mark..Get..Set…Shop- And It’s Total Chaos Out There