Essentials made available during strict Lockdown in 5 Cities of Tamilnadu
Reportedly the complete lockdown in the major urban centres of tamilnadu, including chennai and coimbatore, came into force on sunday with groceries and vegetable shops also shutting down as civic bodies intensified disinfection work in their respective regions. While police patrol vehicles and flying squads of civic bodies alone could be seen in chennai, coimbatore, madurai, salem and Tiruppur, people in some localities loitered around and police warned them to stay indoors.
DMK president M K stalin hit out at the AIADMK government, alleging it announced the four-day shutdown without any preparations and all of a sudden pushing people into a state of confusion leading to panic buying of essentials on Saturday. The top Dravidian party leader asked the government to act with "forethought" and act "expeditiously." Regions close to chennai and falling under Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram, and Tiruvallur districts, besides districts including Cuddalore, thiruvarur and Nagapattinam were also fully shut on Sunday.
Milk supply was not affected as government run 'Aavin' (Tamil Nadu Co-operative Milk Producers' Federation) delivered it to consumers at their doorsteps as usual. Koyambedu vegetable market in chennai, which alone was allowed to open, witnessed comparatively fewer footfalls as the public were not permitted to venture out and several retailers running neighbourhood outlets avoided purchase from there as they could not open their shops. Traders said some hawkers and pushcart vendors were among the few people who visited the market to buy vegetables and arrival of fresh stocks too was limited. While several shops within the market were either shut or opened for purposes like cleaning, a section of outlets that opened for usual trade closed by noon. Only push carts and mobile vehicles will be permitted to sell vegetables and fruits in the city during this stricter lockdown period.