Some traders belonging to the Saidapet market have come forward to close down their shops by 3 pm in the evening before the prescribed time of the government. The decision was taken due to the residents crowding city markets.
There are 500 shops as members in the Mettupalayam Traders Association with shops in Mettupalayam and Jones Road neighborhoods and they fall under the Kumaran Nagar policy limits.
The decision to shut down the shops at 3 pm (3 hours before the prescribed time) was taken by the traders after holding meetings with the civic authorities and police personnel.
It must be remembered that after the total lockdown for a fortnight and when Chennai reopened the TN government announced that the individual shopkeepers and markets could run from 6 am in the morning till 6 pm in the evening.
Even after the lockdown has been lifted, Saidapet that falls under the Kodambakkam range has been recording a high percentage of Coronavirus active cases. As on Sunday, 19th July 2020, there were as many as14997 active cases in Chennai city.
Kodambakkam had the maximum number of active cases and it was 2082 and this was followed by Anna Nagar with 1561 active cases. This has been brought to light by the data from Chennai Corporation.
Inspector of Kumaran Nagar, Mr. Kalai Arasan expressed his thoughts. He spoke about how in the Kodambakkam zone Saidapet range recorded high cases. The crowd gathering in the market areas was the reason why a suggestion was made by the police department to the shopkeepers to close down the shops earlier than the prescribed time in the evening.
It is said that the police department wanted the shops to be closed by 2 pm but the traders wanted to shut down their shops by 4 pm only. The traders agreed to close down their shops by 3 pm after discussions with the senior officials.