SALEM: A promotional sale announced by the owner of a newly opened textile showroom drew a huge crowd, among whom were the officials of the civic body. No, they were not there to check the fresh arrivals but to clamp down on the unruly masses, throwing caution to the wind by discarding all social distancing norms.
The shop, Anandham Silks' was inaugurated on Friday morning near the Attur municipality office in the district. With the opening of the new showroom, the owner announced a one-day offer -- shirt, pant and saree would be sold for Rs 23 to signify the importance of the date, October 23.
The announcement that spread like a wildfire attracted a huge crowd to the shop and within hours thousands of people had purchased clothes sold with the one-day offer.
It was reported that at around 11 am, the municipality works noticed the crowd and informed the higher officials. Based on the information, the Attur Municipality officials came to the spot and sealed the showroom for not following the social distancing norms and also for announcing an offer against the instructions by the district administration.
A few days ago, the Collector, SA Raman, instructed shops not to announce special offers during the festival season as it could attract more crowd. He also warned the shops of stern action if they failed to follow social distancing.