Retail sale at Sector 88 mandi banned; administration to regulate traders’ entry

The Gautam Budh Nagar administration has decided to stop the retail sale of fruits and vegetables at Noida’s Sector 88 mandi following large gatherings at the wholesale

The Gautam Budh Nagar administration has decided to stop the retail sale of fruits and vegetables at Noida’s Sector 88 mandi following large gatherings at the wholesale market on Thursday and Friday.

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Social distancing norms at the market had gone for a toss at Navin Mandi, Sector 88 the past two days as many vegetable vendors and local residents thronged the wholesale market to buy vegetables and fruits.

The district administration said it will only allow wholesale trade at the market from now and will also regulate the entry of visitors. “Barricades have been put up at all the three major roads leading to the market. We will start issuing passes to vendors and traders, and only those with passes will be allowed to enter the mandi. The pass will mention the dates and time slots when a vendor can visit and engage in trade at the mandi,” Santosh Kumar Yadav, secretary, Noida Mandi Board, said. “Every day only 100 rickshaws will be allowed to enter the market.”

“Only wholesale trade is allowed at the mandi now. Farmers and vegetable traders will also have to pass through sanitisation tunnel at gate number 1. Shop owners have also been directed to get themselves and their staff tested for coronavirus. Shop licenses will be canceled for violating the guidelines,” Yadav added.

The administration also appealed to the vegetable vendors and traders to wear masks at all times and adhere to physical distancing norms. Noida city Magistrate Umesh Kumar said, “We are taking a practical approach to ensure that the supply of vegetables to residents is not affected while making sure that physical distance norms are followed properly at the market. We appeal to shop owners and buyers to wear masks and maintain physical distance.”

Vegetable traders said that maintaining adequate physical distance at the wholesale market is important and they support the district administration’s decision to regulate entry. “We will help the mandi board in maintaining physical distancing as far as possible. We have also suggested to the board that entry inside the mandi should be allowed for two hours and the gates should only open after three hours. Entry should be allowed between 10pm and midnight after which the entry gates should be shut. Entry gates should be opened again at 3am, and we will ensure that visitors already inside leave the mandi. This will help in maintaining social distance,” Mange Ram Sharma, president, Navin Mandi welfare association. “Over 6,000 buyers and sellers visit the mandi every day, besides some 1,000 people who work at the shops here ”

“The mandi board has been trying to ensure that safety measures are implemented properly at the market. They have also installed a sanitisation tunnel outside the mandi. The problem is that a large number of vendors and residents are coming inside to buy vegetables, and managing the crowd is very difficult. The mandi board has planned to regulate the entry which should help in maintaining physical distance,” Raj Singh, secretary of the association said.