After several weekends since the lockdown began, meat and fish shops in the city were allowed to function on Sunday. However, shopkeepers said that customer footfall was lower ahead of Ramzan and it did not match up to the usual Sunday crowd either.
Since the lockdown started, the district administration had regularly issued orders banning the sale of meat and fish on Sundays to prevent crowding. Following the phased relaxation of norms, customers were seen standing in queues in front of meat shops across the city on Sunday.
T. Mohammed Ali, who runs a mutton stall at Nelpettai market, said many customers were not aware of shops being permitted to open, resulting in lower footfall. “Usually, on a day ahead of Eid-Ul-Fitr, the market used to be flooded with people. However, this time the business was not brisk. But, as word spread about the functioning of shops, people gradually started visiting the market,” he said.
Arumugam, who runs a mutton stall on Kamarajar Salai, said customers ensured personal distancing while waiting in front of his shop.
S. Muthukrishnan, president of Madurai City Mutton Mutton Retail Merchants Association, said that the shops were instructed to ensure that their customers wore face masks. The shopkeepers were also instructed to draw circles or squares in front of their shops to enforce personal distancing.
However, customers were seen flouting the personal distancing norm in front of some shops at Nelpettai market.
Ahead of Ramzan celebration, the price of meat had also increased sharply, said S. Naveena, a resident of Nelpettai. “On Sunday, a kilogram of mutton was sold for ₹900, and chicken at ₹220,” she said.
