With the lifting of four-day total lockdown in Coimbatore city on Thursday, supermarkets saw people waiting in long queues and there was a steady flow of vehicles on most of the roads.
Grocery and meats shops opened in the morning and personal distancing norms were maintained in many places.
The police had to allow people in batches into RG Street, the main area for wholesale purchase of grocery products. Vehicle movement on Raja Street was also restricted to control crowd. “People fear there may be another lockdown. That is why they rush to the shops. The police should also restrict entry of retail buyers and permit only the wholesale buyers,” said one of the wholesale traders on RG Street.
Since shops were permitted to be open till evening, meat shops and neighbourhood grocery shops had normal flow of customers.
As the wholesale vegetable market in the city (MGR market) was open after four days, there was a rush in the morning. More than 50 % of the usual quantity of vegetables were sold on Thursday. There was a reduction in arrivals, but the situation would be normal from Friday, said traders at the market. At the Gandhipuram town bus stand market, the retail prices of some of the vegetables were slightly high. While prices of potato, onion and many other vegetables were the same, carrot and cabbage prices were up. But the prices will start coming down from Friday, said traders at that market.
With the Highways Department restarting the flyover work on Trichy Road after four days, and the barricades placed for the total shutdown yet to be removed on Thursday morning, there were traffic snarls near Sungam. The barricades were removed by afternoon and vehicle movement was also down later in the day.
