Through ‘TPR challenge’, desperate traders take lead to increase testing

The onus is now on traders to reduce TPR so that they can open shops. Traders are now busy campaigning for mass testing and have come up with offers for participating in Covid testing camps.
Through ‘TPR challenge’, desperate traders take lead to increase testing

KOZHIKODE: The onus is now on traders to reduce TPR so that they can open shops. Traders are now busy campaigning for mass testing and have come up with offers for participating in Covid testing camps. The traders at Peruvayal here have come up with a  ‘TPR challenge’ with pressure cooker and kitchen utensils as prizes to draw more people to camps. They are forced to do so to bring down the TPR. Then only they will be allowed to open their shops. This shows the dire situation in which the traders are going through due to the mandatory shutting down of shops.

In Kuttikattur area of Peruvayal panchayat, TPR has been high for the past two weeks, which has led to the closure of businesses. To overcome this crisis, traders decided to give gifts to the people of the panchayat who participated in the testing camp on Thursday. The first prize was Rs 5,000 and the second prize a biryani pot. The third prize was a pressure cooker. In some parts of Malappuram, those who participated in the testing camps were offered fried chicken and other fast food preparations as part of the traders’ attempt to bring more people to the camps and bring down TPR. 

“It is a waste of money or time to protest against the government and wait for orders to open shops as we have already lost hope in the government supporting us”, said Gangadharan Nandan, a representative of Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithi, Kuttiyadi unit. Hence we have adopted a measure to support the government system to bring down  TPR.

What we can offer is just a few attractive goodies so that we can bring more people to the testing camps and thereby reduce the number of Covid cases, he added. He further said, we are going to participate in the mass testing camps initiated by the government on Friday.

“We want all traders and their family members in our area to attend testing camps and thereby bring negative reports, so that our areas would be raised to category A. Only by this will we be allowed to open our shops on all days,” he said. 

CASH PRIZE, GOODIES
The first prize was Rs 5,000 and the second prize a biryani pot. The third prize was a pressure cooker.

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