The licenses of 10 wholesale vegetable shops set up at M.G.R. Bus Stand here were cancelled on Sunday night, after the shop owners and customers violated personal distancing norms. Madurai Corporation officials also seized the vegetables from these shops.
Following crowding of customers and repeated violation of personal distancing norms at the wholesale vegetable market, District Collector T.G. Vinay and Madurai Corporation Commissioner S. Visakan inspected the wholesale vegetable shops set up at M.G.R. Bus Stand and the helipad of Amma Thidal on Ring Road on Sunday night. They ordered that these shop owners will not be allowed to renew their licences for the next three months.
A Corporation official, who was present during the inspection, said that every night at least 10,000 people crowded the M.G.R. bus stand to purchase vegetables. “Despite repeated appeals by the police personnel and the civic body, hundreds of people thronged the market every night, with a total disregard to physical distancing rules. After the Koyambedu market in Chennai turned into a COVID-19 hotspot, we are taking all necessary measures to ensure that such an incident does not happen here,” he said.
To avoid crowding of customers at M.G.R. Bus Stand, the civic body had allotted for around 100 more wholesale vegetable shops at the helipad of Amma Thidal, which began functioning from Sunday night.
The Commissioner urged the people to buy vegetables from shops set up at Amma Thidal and reduce the crowd at M.G.R. Bus Stand. He instructed the shopkeepers to wear face masks and ensure that their customers followed personal distancing norms.