Sea of people: Social distancing missing in Pune markets
Vehicle movement was slow on the market roads and pedestrians were finding it difficult to walk through
Barely minutes after Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray made an appeal to people to be cautious of a second Covid-19 wave, a large crowd in areas like Laxmi road, Mandai and Tulsibaug violated social distancing norms as people stepped out of homes on Sunday for Diwali shopping.
As social distancing and other Covid related protocols went for a toss, Federation of Traders Association of Pune (FTAP) has issued guidelines to all traders and shop owners asking them for strict adherence to prevent Covid and avoid any action from authorities.
This being the only holiday before Diwali, people in large number visited Laxmi road, Bajirao road, Tilak road, Tulshibaug and Raviwar peth markets, causing traffic congestion in many areas of various peths.
Vehicle movement was slow on the market roads and pedestrians were finding it difficult to walk through the road.
In most shops, people were seen standing close to each other, without maintaining the distance while some of them did not even wear masks. Ironically, Thackeray in his address in the afternoon had asked people to follow Covid guidelines in order to prevent the virus from spreading.
The scene was similar at roadside vendors, who attracted a large number of customers since afternoon.
“The festive season is coming closer and it is the last weekend before Diwali. So, we have issued strict guidelines to be followed by traders and shop owners, especially from these market areas. Covid-19 has not yet gone and there is still a fear of infection to spread. Social distancing, wearing a face mask, use of hand sanitizer and other safety measures need to be taken seriously. So, we have again issued our Covid related protocol guidelines to our members across Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad,” said Fatechand Ranka, president of FTAP.
Nitin Pandit, secretary of Tulshibaug market shop owners association said, “Safety of our customers and also our staff is most important for us, so wearing a face mask and following social distancing is strict at our market. Today morning we all members of the association took a complete round of entire Tulshibaug market and strictly instructed all the shop owners not to allow anyone without a face mask and thermal checking inside the shop. We need to be careful even now, as infection should not spread from these market areas.”
From the last couple of days, the crowd at city markets is increasing and despite all appeals people still are not following safety precautions. Most of them are not wearing a face mask and even social distancing is not kept properly inside the shops.
“Today I had gone to Laxmi road with my friends for shopping, there was a huge crowd and we were walking through pushing each other in the crowd. No social distancing was followed on road even inside the shops. This is very risky as per current situation and shop owners should allow customers in a proper way following Covid protocols.” said Pooja Shirke, an IT professional.