When shops selling essential commodities were opened for about nine hours on Tuesday morning after the three-day complete shutdown in Mangaluru, there was a mad rush at the Central Market — the wholesale vegetable and fruits market, while people waited in endless queues elsewhere in the city to buy essentials.
District in-charge Minister Kota Srinivas Poojari had announced the three-day shutdown to combat the spread of COVID-19 pandemic by discouraging people from venturing out. What transpired on Tuesday was exactly the opposite with people keeping aside social distancing in market places to buy essential commodities under panic. On the other hand, they had to wait in very long queues for hours together near supermarkets and grocery shops, under a harsh Sun, to buy essential commodities.
Meanwhile, MLC Ivan D'Souza and city corporation councillors met district in-charge Secretary V. Ponnuraj demanding at least a four-hour window every day for people to buy their supplies, failing which, they said, people’s representatives would resort to selling essential commodities themselves.
Mangaluru City Corporation Civic Group Coordinator Nigel Albuquerque said that the three-day shutdown was unscientific as it resulted in a mad rush on Tuesday. He wondered why the administration failed to adhered to the directive by the Director-General and Inspector-General of Police to keep shops selling essential commodities open round-the-clock in the State.
Durga Ramadas Kateel, a resident of Bejai, said that he stood in a queue in front of a popular grocery shop at 7.45 a.m., got inside at 11.10 a.m. and came out with his supplies at 12.15 p.m. Two elderly people, who fainted after standing in the queue under the harsh Sun, were allowed immediate entry by the shop management, he said. Manjunathaswamy, a resident of Chilimbi, said that he had to wait for over four hours to enter a supermarket in the locality.
It was chaos at the Central Market where people jostled for space to buy vegetables and fruits even as fruit merchants used the occasion to dispose of old stock. Hardly any social distancing was observed thereby defeating the purpose of lockdown, said Jatin Raj, who was there to buy his supplies.
On the pandemonium, orthodontist P.N. Ramaraj said that the much-talked about door delivery had not taken off yet; this rush could have been avoided if it had been implemented. Each councillor should have been given responsibility for this, he said.
Ramakrishna Acharya, a resident of Kadri, said that people resorted to panic buying only because of excessive restrictions. If the administration had allowed the sale of essential commodities during the day as done elsewhere in the State, there wouldn’t have been this rush, he said.
