Much to the relief of buyers, the weekly shandies in Tiruchi resumed their activities on Sunday after the State government relaxed lockdown norms.
No weekly shandy was allowed to operate in the State since the imposition of lockdown from the last week of March to check the spread of the virus.
Though authorities opened temporary markets in different parts of the city to facilitate trouble-free supply of vegetables and essential items, the weekly markets were not given permission due to apprehension of spread of virus in the event of large gathering of people in a particular place.
Acting on the demands of traders and consumers, the State government granted permission to reopen the weekly shandies from October 1.
The popular weekly shandy at GoldenRock, functional on Sundays from dawn to dusk, was opened after a gap of six months. However, it received just half of its usual traders and customers as many of them had no knowledge about its reopening. It was only after seeing the shops, local residents of Golden Rock, T.V.S. Tolgate and surrounding areas visited the market and bought vegetables, fruits, groceries and other essential commodities, according to traders.
Meanwhile, permission on resumption of weekly shandies has raised expectations of cattle traders on reopening of the cattle market at Manapparai near here.
The cattle market receives hundreds of traders from different parts of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Puducherry.
The market usually meets on every Tuesday and continues up to noon the next day. It is learnt that officials are yet to take a call on the plea for reopening it.
Demanding the reopening of the cattle market, a section of traders met officials of Manapparai Municipality and presented a petition.