More than a month after the Udhagamandalam Municipal Market was closed to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the Nilgiris, the it reopened on Tuesday.
According to officials, the shops in the market have been split into three groups and each assigned a letter (A,B and C), and each shop will be allowed to function on different days of the week to minimise the chance of the infection spreading among shopkeepers.
On Tuesday, only a few shops were opened as merchants had to procure goods to stock their shelves. One vegetable seller said that the system which has been implemented is a step in the right direction, but said that he was looking forward to keeping his shop open throughout the week. “As vegetables are perishable, and there is a gap of three days when I have to close, I will have to either store the vegetables in cold storage facilities or buy considerably lesser quantities of vegetables. Otherwise, they will go to waste and I will make huge losses,” he said. A few meat stalls also started functioning at the market.
Officials from the municipality said that the guidelines issued include shopkeepers and merchants working in the market to be mandatorily vaccinated against COVID-19. “Most shopkeepers are already vaccinated, but we are insisting that the few who haven’t been vaccinated only open their shops once they do,” said an official from the municipality.
Measures have been implemented to ensure physical distancing, and mask wearing among both shopkeepers and the public entering the market, with fines set to be imposed on violators.
Officials said that the Coonoor Market would also be opened partially in the coming days.