Delhi's Azadpur traders want to move to open grounds

Atul Mathur | TNN | Apr 27, 2020, 08:26 IST

<p>A labourer covers his face with mask at Azadpur market in Delhi<br></p>

NEW DELHI: The availability of vegetables and fruits may get affected in the next few days with a large number of traders at the Azadpur auction yard staying away from their businesses following the reports of more people getting infected by the novel coronavirus.
While the mandi management committee on Sunday took more steps to decongest the Asia’s biggest vegetable and fruit auction yard, traders said fear had taken over those working at Azadpur with many deciding to stay off the business for the next few days. They claimed that at least eight cases of traders getting the virus had emerged till Saturday, with one person dying of Covid-19. The mandi remained closed on Sunday.
“You may find 30-40 per cent shops closed on Monday,” Azadpur onion traders’ association president Shrikant Mishra said. “I have not been going to the mandi for three days now.”
Azadpur Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) member and vegetable traders’ association president Anil Malhotra demanded that the mandi activities be shifted to open areas.
“To maintain social distancing, the mandi trade should be shifted to open grounds such as the Japanese Park in Rohini, Burari’s Nirankari Ground and big stadiums. It is dangerous to run businesses here. The government has not even started testing the labourers,” Malhotra claimed.
DM (North) Deepak Shinde said that several measures had been taken to decongest the mandi and maintain social distancing. “We have also created a holding ground for commercial vehicles at Nirankari Ground and they will be allowed to go to the mandi only in batches of 100 per hour. It will check the problem of congestion,” Shinde added. He said that shifting the mandi to any other location was not possible.
APMC secretary Tanvir Ahmad said the mandi area was disinfected on Sunday.