This was stated in the submission by State government pleader V Jayaprakash Narayan before a division bench comprising Justices MM Sundresh and R Hemalatha in response to a plea moved by social activist ‘Traffic’ KR Ramaswamy, who sought a direction to install disinfectant tunnels using herbal sanitisers for those entering the market.

The government pleader submitted that the Centre had issued guidelines that disinfectant tunnels would not help but would instead be harmful to the public, adding that plans to create such tunnels were given up.

Also, the State government had no immediate plans to resume operations at the Koyambedu market complex, which was possible only after putting in place all safety measures, he added.

Moreover, ‘Traffic’ Ramaswamy was yet to pay the cost imposed on him for moving such pleas, advocate Jayaprakash Narayan pointed out and sought for the dismissal of the present petition. Following this, the bench reserved orders on the plea.

The Koyambedu cluster was the biggest in the State, from where the infection spread to the vendors who in turn passed it on to their customers elsewhere in the city and its neighbourhood. It also contributed to cases being reported in other parts of the State through workers who returned home, and lorry drivers.