While the State has been grappling with people flocking shops to buy essentials at the time of lockdown due to COVID-19, the Kodagu district administration has launched an e-commerce portal to deliver items like groceries, vegetables and milk to doorsteps, with the involvement of private shops.
‘Kodagu Groceries’has been launched so that people can stay safe at their home. The public can visit the portal https://kodagu.letstart.in to purchase. It is part of the initiative by the district administration under the #KodaguFightsCorona campaign to make the lockdown successful.
“The step had become necessary to face the challenges posed by the pandemic. The idea was to make the lockdown successful without causing any hurdles in making daily needs available. The portal acts as a bridge between users and local vendors,” according to the Kodagu district administration.
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Users have to register first on the portal before placing orders. There is no scope for bulk purchase and home delivery will be done for purchases above ₹100. Online orders can be placed from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on all days.
The initiative comes handy since the public are allowed to step out for essential items only on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m.
Online orders for groceries, vegetables, fruits, medicine, and dairy products can be placed. The vendor can be searched by category. On entering the category of goods and the location, the list of shops and contact numbers will be displayed for consumers to make the option.
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As many as 193 provision vendors, 25 vegetable vendors, three medicine vendors, and 27 provision and vegetable vendors who are capable of home delivering the goods have been listed. Doorstep delivery is presently available in about 25 towns and villages, including Madikeri, Kushalnagar, Virajpet, Somawarpet, Murnad, Bhagamandala, Aiyaneri, and Napokulu.
Azeez, who runs a provision store in Murnad, said his store has been listed on the portal.
Babu, who operates a grocery store, said the panchayat had identified his store for the initiative. “But there is not much stock in my shop as I’m awaiting supplies from wholesale vendors. Whatever stock was available has been bought by the people after the lockdown,” he said.
‘Feed the Hungry’ in Kodagu
In a move to ensure that migrant workers and daily wagers do not go hungry during lockdown, the ‘Feed the Hungry’ initiative has been launched in Kodagu, allowing people to donate essentials food items.
Five places have been identified where large donation boxes have had been placed based on the nature of food items (only groceries) and interested donors can drop the items here. The drop boxes for essentials such as rice and toor dal, have been placed at private bus stands in Somavarapet and Kushalnagar; old bus stand in Madikeri; near clock tower in Virajpet, and the bus stand in Gonikoppa.
This is a joint effort of Kodagu district administration and the district police.