HYDERABAD: Even as the State witnesses rise in Covid-19 cases, preventive measures go for a toss Hyderabad’s Malakpet onion market, which receives truckloads of stocks on a daily basis from Maharashtra. With over 3.57 lakh cases, the neighbouring State has the highest number of active Covid cases in the country.
There are no measures in place at the Malakpet market like health screening of drivers and the helpers who arrive in trucks from Maharashtra. While no rapid antigen tests and thermal screening are being conducted at the onion market, those who work or turn up at the facility are completely neglecting social distancing norms. Also missing are the basic sanitiser dispensers.
Only a handful of persons are seen wearing masks in the market, although the State government has passed orders for everyone to wear masks in public places. While close to 200 trucks arrive from Maharashtra every week at the Malakpet market, many trucks also come from Karnataka, which is also reporting increasing number of Covid-19 cases. The trucks arrive during the wee hours and unload the onion stocks at the Malakpet market. The driver and workers stay in the market or roam around in the city till 10 pm before returning to their native States.
A majority of onion consignments arrive at the Malakpet market from Satara, Nashik, Jalgaon, Pune, Solapur and Ahmednagar districts of Maharastra where the case load is very high. Same is the case with the bordering areas of Karnataka, which has the third highest number of Covid-19 cases in the country.
The situation is not much different in the Gaddiannaram fruit market where huge quantities of mangoes as well as pomegranates and oranges are brought from Maharashtra. When contacted, G Lakshmi Bai, Director of Telangana Agricultural Marketing Department, said: “It is very difficult to impose restrictions in markets like Gaddiannaram. We have issued several circulars to the traders regarding all the precautionary measures to be taken in view of the pandemic but they have failed to follow them.”
Where all Covid-19 norms go for a toss
There are no precautionary measures like health screening of drivers and the helpers, who arrive in trucks from Maharashtra, in place at the Malakpet market. The rapid antigen tests and thermal screening are also not being conducted at the market. Those who work or turn up at the facility are completely neglecting social distancing norms. Also missing are the basic sanitiser dispensers