The district administration has relaxed the timings of markets to 7 p.m. Earlier the markets were allowed to open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
With this relaxation, all the markets saw heavy rush in the afternoon on Thursday.
Earlier, the markets were allowed to function up to 1 p.m.,leading to traffic snarls in many areas such as GT Road, Fort Road and other places.
The district administration feared that it would compromise the social distancing norms during the day.
Vizianagaram Chamber of Commerce and Sri Balaji Market authorities welcomed the decision taken by Collector M.Hari Jawaharlal. They hope that the extended market hours would ensure decent business for traders.