'Civil Defence Volunteers' deployed in Agartala veg market, in a bid to ensure social distancing

In order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infection in Tripura, 'Civil Defence Volunteers' have been deployed in the vegetable markets of Agartala to ensure that people strictly follow the social distancing norms.

Further, 'no mask, no vegetable' boards have been put up in the market to make sure that the COVID-19 protocols are being followed.

Bijaya Sinha, one of the Civil Defence volunteers said that they were assigned to ensure whether people wear masks and maintain distance or not. ''The situation seems better as almost all the people are following the COVID-19 guidelines and vendors are dealing with people obeying them'' said Sinha.

As the COVID-19 cases increases in the state, the market and small scale business has witnessed a huge drop in their profits. Speaking about the ongoing crisis, vegetable vendor Narayan Sil said their business has gone down since the start of the pandemic, causing a spike in vegetable prices in the wholesale market. ''Our business has gone down as fewer people are coming out and moreover, the price of the vegetable in the wholesale market is high as there is a crisis since transportation has also been hugely affected," said Sil.

However, although the administration has deployed 'Civil Defence Volunteers' in the market to ensure social distancing but the rest of the places in the capital city hardly is following it. ''As offices, shops and other organizations have opened now people seemed to have forgotten about the pandemic and no sign of distancing is seen in the streets'' said Rajib Das, a customer at the vegetable market.

Earlier this week, the West Tripura district administration relocated Lake Chowmuhani Bazar in Vivekananda Stadium in view of rising cases of the virus in the state. It is to be mentioned that, Lake Chowmuhani Bazar is one of the busiest markets in Agartala.