Covid-19 precaution not in stock at Lajpat market

During a spot visit on Sunday, HT found the market crowded with hundreds of shoppers jostling for space, most of them without a mask or wearing it improperly.

Rampant violations of rules imposed to curb the spread of Covid-19 at the popular Lajpat Nagar in south Delhi has set off alarm bells with both the number of fresh cases and positivity rate in the national capital climbing up, sparking fears of yet another outbreak.

Shoppers throng the Lajpat Nagar market on Sunday, flouting social distancing norms . Amal KS/HT PHOTO

During a spot visit on Sunday, HT found the market crowded with hundreds of shoppers jostling for space, most of them without a mask or wearing it improperly. Social distancing was neither being observed on the streets, nor inside the shops. The street vendors occupied the roads with usual rush of shoppers around them. Civil defence volunteers who have been deployed by the administration to enforce Covid-appropriate behaviour were hard to find, also there were no public announcements to alert people about maintaining a safe distance.

The market association said they have written to the district administration to deploy more civic defence volunteers to ensure social distancing and also requested them to increase vigil and screening of visitors to the market. The association said it has also issued circulars to shopkeepers to not allow visitors without masks and asked them to discourage crowding in their shops.

“The crowd in the market has grown in the last few weeks and it is likely to increase further because of Holi. We do not want a Diwali-like situation again, so we have written to the district administration to deploy more staff in the market to enforce social distancing norms. We have requested them to increase vigil and patrolling in the market and challan those who do not wear masks,” Ashwani Marwah, general secretary Traders Association Lajpat Nagar, said.

Delhi recorded 813 new cases of Covid-19 on Saturday, the most since December 24, and the test positivity rate rose beyond the 1% mark for the first time since December 27. On Sunday, Delhi reported 823 cases with a positivity rate of 1.03%. The increase has been particularly sharp since Monday, March 15, when the city saw 368 cases. With very few people now observing Covid rules, experts have warned that large gatherings in markets, weddings and public events may turn superspreaders.

Marwah said the association was planning to deploy their own teams to tell people to maintain social distancing and ensure thermal screening of visitors in the market area.

Manish Kumar Saikia, a shopper, said, “It is a complete chaos here. There was a time when people had to wait to enter shops to ensure social distancing but just in one year things have changed completely. Hardly anyone is seen following social distancing now.”

At a few shops though visitors were being screened and hand sanitisers were seen outside some shops. However, there were no checks at roadside vendors.

Traders also complained that roadside vendors don’t follow rules and add to crowding. “The number of street vendors have also increased in the market and they do not follow any Covid-19 guideline. People throng at roadside makeshift eateries where they do not even keep sanitisers, so this is a cause of concern,” Praveen Gupta, a shopkeeper, said.

In a circular issued to the shopkeepers, signed by association president Sanjeev Madan, the body has said, “Please do not entertain people who are not wearing masks. Ensure that social distancing norms are followed even if we have to ask our customer to wait for few minutes. Please ensure that thermal checking of all visitors is done and also make sure that they sanitise their hands before entering our establishments.”

District administration said necessary measures were being taken and violators fined. Vishwendra, district magistrate (southeast), said that 179 challans were issued on Saturday in the district against violators for not wearing masks. “This number was 34 till last week. As coronavirus virus cases are increasing, we have also increased our vigil. We have dedicated one enforcement team only for Lajpat Nagar area. We will further increase our vigil and deploy more people,” Vishwendra said.