CHENNAI: Even as the Koyambedu effect is being felt across the State, Express has found that key cities such as Madurai and Tiruchy have been slow to decentralise market activities, allowing crowds to throng central markets until last week.
In Madurai, it was only after cases were reported from Koyambedu that the Mattuthavani integrated fruit and vegetable market was decentralised.
Till then the market, in which 540 wholesalers and 700 retailers were functioning, was seeing large crowds.
Madurai Corporation has now decentralised and relocated the wholesale market to three spots and dispersed retail trade across 35 spots in the city limit. Still, officials say retailers throng the markets. “They neither abide by social distancing norms, nor do they use face masks,” a frustrated corporation official complained.
Tiruchy, too, is struggling. After traders failed to maintain social distancing, the temporary market was shifted from Palpannai junction to G-Corner grounds, while Gandhi market was restricted to wholesalers.
Despite this, 3000-4000 are said to flock to G-Corner daily, which was only meant for retailers to pick up stock.
Meanwhile, with people still visiting the Gandhi market, traders have been warned of action if they sell to the public directly.
Some cities and towns, however, were quicker to forestall these challenges. In Vellore, the city’s Nethaji Market, with 1,000 wholesale and retail shops and an average daily footfall of 25,000, was closed to retail trade early in April.
Retail trade was shifted to five large grounds in the city. Coimbatore too decentralised its markets just days after the lockdown began on March 24.
Namakkal, Salem and Erode were among other towns to decentralise market activity early on. In Erode, temperature checks are conducted for both vendors and customers.
In Tirupur, where officials initially struggled to control crowds at the Thennampalayam market, retailers were only allowed to sell through mobile vans or in open spaces.
Meanwhile, despite the number of cases linked to Chennai’s central market, vendors there say little has changed.
(With inputs from Chennai, Tiruchy, Coimbatore, Erode, Vellore, Salem, Namakkal, Tirupur and Madurai)