Alternative sites spotted to shift temporary mkts

Coimbatore: With public transportation expected to resume from the next week, the city corporation has identified places to shift the temporary vegetable markets that are functioning at bus stands.
“The civic body had set up temporary markets at bus stands and on a school ground immediately after the lockdown was imposed to prevent large number of people gather at a spot. Now that the bus services are likely to resume, we have to shift the markets,” corporation commissioner J Sravan Kumar said.
Temporary markets were set up at the Singanallur bus stand, town and mofussil bus stand at Gandhipuram, Ukkadam bus stand, new bus stand on the Mettupalayam Road, Vadavalli bus stand and the Ramalinga Chettiar Higher secondary school ground at Saibaba Colony.
The corporation has identified school grounds that are big enough to set up markets, Kumar said. “If needed, markets can be set at VOC Park as well.”
Explaining about the importance of maintaining social distancing, the official said that one of the reasons the markets in the city had not turned into hotspot for coronavirus spread was that the markets were decentralized in the beginning itself. “Initiatives were taken to sell vegetables through mobile markets and online portals,” he added.
To ensure that people are not gathered at a single place, markets should be decentralised, said Chenthur Raaghav, chief architect of A Plus R Architects, whose team designed temporary markets at schools. “We will adopt the same decentralizing concepts in the temporary markets as well to ensure that people are spread across the market area.”
Physical distance can be maintained only if there is enough space in the markets, Raaghav said. “If there is a space crunch, shopkeepers will be asked to take turns to sell vegetables.”
The corporation has also decided to shift the flower market in Poo Market area to the Devanga Higher Secondary School within a couple of days.