Residents seek PM’s intervention to close T Nagar

CHENNAI: A residentwelfare association from Chennai has written to the Union government seeking itsintervention to close shops in T Nagar, one of the biggest shopping hubs of the city. With the Covid cases on the rise, the resident welfare association has requested the PM office to ensure commercial hubs remain shut until cases are under control.
“Market places are one of the biggest hotspots and in the past few weeks, we have seen a rise in the number of cases in T Nagar area, in Kodambakkam zone that has the fourth highest cases in the city. These markets should be closed until the cases in Chennai reduce,” said V S Jayaraman, president, T Nagar residential welfare association.
Motilal Street and South Boag Street arecontainmentzones as per corporation data. “There are36 big commercialestablishments.Thereis a complaintoffire safety regulation violations and various other building violations including encroachment of footpaths. There is no way that social distancing can be maintained. The centralised airconditioning in cramped shops will only increase the spread of infection,” said B Kannan, secretary of the association. “To keep businesses running, many people are travelling from other cities such as Mumbai, Pune and Surat and they do not quarantinethemselves. They come for business purposes and leave within a couple of days. This is highly risky for us,” he said.
In their letter to the ministry of personnel, public grievances & pensions, they have stated, “The main reason for Chennai becoming a hotspot was the Koyambedu vegetable market where gatherings were allowed without restriction and as a resultthesituation wentout of control. T Nagar is another area where crowding takes place and any relaxation and opening of commercial establishments will result in a disaster.”