Officials ordered closure of grocery shops around the containment zone in Melur on Friday after chaos reigned for three days.
Around 11,000 people in 3,000 households at Melur have been placed under home quarantine.
M. Jinnah, a resident of Melur, said there was a plea on Tuesday to open shops near the containment zone as many people could not get basic goods like groceries, flour, oil and pulses. Only two major departmental stores were functioning but they could not cater to the needs of all people.
A senior police official said there was absolute chaos between Tuesday and Thursday when shops were kept open. Despite the threat of spread of coronavirus, people thronged shops to buy groceries for their homes. We understand the need but there was total disregard for physical distance. Although we tried to control the crowd, we could not do much as over 20 shops remained open at the same time, a source said.
According to reports from a local trader's association, there are a total of 151 grocery shops and 20 traders in the town.
To bring the situation under control after news of another positive case on Thursday from Melur, Municipal Commissioner P. Balamurugan said they would permit grocery shops to apply for permission for home delivery.
‘Even if all 20 shops want to deliver goods at home, we will allow them as it would ensure that people follow home quarantine norms. No shop near the containment zone will be kept open,’ he said. On Friday, a total of 11 shops began delivering goods at houses and a total of 450 orders were received.
The municipality also delivered 1,950 vegetable bags using eight vehicles to the residents in the containment zone.
