Team Herald
PANJIM: The State government on Tuesday tightened the lockdown orders upon realising that the people took the shutdown casually on Day-2 despite fervent appeal to stay indoors unless absolutely necessary.
On the third successive day of Janta curfew, police personnel were deployed at various locations inquiring with people the reason for coming out of their homes.
The markets and supercentres were kept open for a short duration from 6 am to 11 am, the timing decided by the State government on Tuesday evening. The rush of panic buyers led to a shortage of nearly all the essential items.
In Panjim, milk, packaged food, grocery items such as rice, wheat flour, grains, etc; and even hand wash bottles and sachets ran out of stock much before the closing time. The limited stock of vegetables sold in the market and other smaller shops were in fact left over of last Saturday. These veggies too sold out within minutes.
“People began crowding since early morning. There has been more demand for milk and vegetables. We got fresh supply of milk packets but the vegetables were that of last Saturday, last day before the Janta curfew,” Sayed, a grocery shop owner in the capital, said.
The Panjim market saw nearly 200-300 people flocking the vegetable stalls in one go. Soon a police team was sent to ensure no untoward incident takes place. The policemen also took the charge to disperse the crowd at the earliest. The fish market also witnessed similar scenario.
“No fresh stock of vegetables and fruits has come to the market since Sunday. We have no choice but to sell the old stock,” Manoj Tuekar, a vegetable vendor said. In Mapusa too, people thronged the market soon after the local vegetable and fruit vendors opened their business at 9 am. Hundreds of panic buyers from nearby villagers also visited the market. The vendors sought permission from the local authorities to continue their sale beyond 11 am; however, the request was turned down. The Mapusa Police in the presence of Mapusa Municipal Council officials cleared the market soon after the deadline.
The pharmacies, which are exempted from the lockdown orders, ensured that people maintained a safe distance. At several places, the pharmacy management asked the people to form a queue and maintain a safe distance.
The vendors in Ponda town took undue advantage of the prevailing situation by selling the essential commodities at double the price. The consumers demanded action against the errant vendors; however no official complaint has yet been lodged with the authorities concerned.
By late evening, the movement of people on the streets further minimised as police warned of action for unnecessarily venturing out of their houses.
