Amid the rising worry of the possible third wave of COVID-19 and its Delta Plus variant, the East Delhi district administration has ordered to shut down the Laxmi Nagar main market and surrounding markets till July 5 due to people not adhering to coronavirus appropriate behaviour. However, shops selling essential goods are exempted from the closure.
As per an order issued by East Delhi District Magistrate Sonika Singh and Delhi Disaster Management Authority chairperson on Tuesday, the stretch from Vikas Marg to Lovely Public School, Kishan Kunj and its surrounding markets, like Mangal Bazaar, Vijay Chowk, Subhash Chowk, Jagatram Park, Guru Ramdas Nagar, etc would be restricted to open from 10pm on June 29 till 10 pm on July 5 or till further orders. The restrictions are not applicable on shops dealing with essential goods and services.
The order further stated, “According to the Preet Vihar SDM's report, shopkeepers, vendors and the general public in Laxmi Nagar main bazaar were not following COVID-appropriate behaviour. Due to large footfall, the market association and shopkeepers were unable to ensure COVID-19 protocols last Sunday.”
Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) has been asked to ensure strict compliance of the order. The East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) is responsible for sanitisation of the place. The market welfare association has been directed to extend support.
Traders from the area, however, said that they were not informed about the issue of increasing congestion. Sumit Kumar Sharma, President of Mangal Bazar Traders' Association said, “The marken witnessed a rush for a few days because people from the nearby areas kept coming frequently to check whether the patri bazaar had reopened.”
“The civic body has not given permission to reopen the patri bazaar, but their regular visitors kept on coming. Otherwise, the situation would have remained quite normal here. We got the information after we contacted the local police,” added Sharma.
Chirag Mittal, a resident of Preet Vihar said, “We must be careful, the pandemic is not over yet and crowd should be controlled.”
The shopkeepers claimed that the authorities were not helping them in any manner. Anil Rastogi of G&H Block Market Traders' Association said, “We are making all the efforts to maintain social distance inside shops and the markets despite getting no help from the authorities. The crowd remains normal, except on Sunday evening. If congestion was noticed, then the authorities should have spoken to us first rather than closing the market.”
