Closure of shops selling provisions and groceries by 10 a.m. and intensified vehicle checks by the police led to arterial roads wearing a deserted look after the State government’s intensified COVID-19 lockdown measures to curb the spread of virus were enforced in the district on Saturday.
All the shops selling vegetables, provisions, meat and fish were closed by 10 a.m.
Roadside shops outside Uzhavar Sandhai and in other parts of the city were not allowed to function. Only medical shops and petrol bunks functioned as usual.
A senior police official said there was nearly a total lockdown in the district and once e-registration for inter-district and intra-district came into effect from May 17, vehicle movement would be there only for emergencies.
In Salem, despite repeated warnings, the public crowded at vegetable and meat markets. Vehicle check points were set up at over 20 places and over 700 police personnel were deployed. The Salem Corporation introduced mobile grocery and vegetable stores. In first phase, Corporation Commissioner N. Ravichandran flagged off a mobile grocery vehicle and 10 vegetable vehicles.