Chennai Koyambedu Market shifted as Two Traders tested Positive for Coronavirus
According to sources the chennai city police has warned that the Koyambedu market would have to be close down if more traders were infected with the coronavirus. This warning comes after two traders were tested positive for the virus last week. It is common knowledge that in most market places, the norms of social distancing norms mandated by both Centre and state governments are not followed. On saturday, ahead of the complete lockdown, visuals from the market in chennai showed hundreds of people rubbing shoulders as they rushed to stock groceries.
Meanwhile in a meeting held on monday, chennai Commissioner AK Viswananthan also discussed the possibility of splitting the city's biggest market and making it function in Kelambakkam and madhavaram separately. Traders were however unwilling to do this and further discussions on the matter are posted for 10 am on Tuesday. "They insisted on social distance during the meeting but maintaining distance in the market is not in the hands of the traders," insists a vendor who spoke to TNM. "The crowd is unmanageable. Lot of unemployed people come to the markets now to buy vegetables and fruits and then go sell it on the roads," he adds.
Furthermore most traders are also against shifting of the market or splitting it, for practical reasons."We need cold storage readily available and also large places to keep the good. It is not practical to move everything to different places," says the vendor. "If they close the market, it will lead to complete chaos. There will be a food shortage, so there is no question of that." Traders further point out that no information has been provided to them about who the vendors who tested positive are.