At a number of 2323,Corona going strong in Tamilnadu. With 138 cases out of 161 new cases today, Chennai has become the Corona Capital. With the city in complete lock down since a month, authorities are losing their sleep over these rising numbers. While the numbers are scattered across the city, the reason for the rise seem to be in loose hold of curfew in few pockets of, Tondiarpet, Koyambedu Market and other super markets that are in the news for wrong reasons. Today morning, the vendors at the Koyambedu market held a Dharna against the TN govt's decision to shift the fruit and flower market to Madhavaram. With 40 odd unions inside the market for different vendors, the Government is cornered to hold discussion with all these representative, thereby wasting precious time. Another super market Santosh Stores in RK Mutt Road, Mylapore along with 2 other stores was closed down as their owner & immediate family tested positive for Corona. Kanchi Super Market, functioning in Kanchipuram was also closed down, as the owner, who attended the Tabligh Jamaath meet at Delhi, hid the fact and continued running the super market tested positive for Corona.
While the general public respect these retail traders for hauling all the essentials to their reach in this distress period, these incidents throw bad light on the traders. Traders should also understand abiding by the Government code is their duty too. It is high time these traders shift focus from profit & comfort of their trade zones to helping the government contain the spread. It is to be noted that districts like Villupuram and Thanjavur which were close to Chennai earlier adopted the practice of shifting their wholesale markets to different places across the towns.
Muslims staying around Nethaji Nagar, Tondiarpet (a Covid-19 hotspot) clashed with the police for keeping them behind barricades. Residents on other parallel street expressed anguish to the police over not controlling the mob, in the process risking their lives by spreading the virus. In Thirumananjeri near Kumbakonam, the health workers were stopped from testing a Muslim lady, who tested positive for Corona Virus. Politicizing the scenarios further and angling for minority votes, the MP of Chidambaram, Thol. Thirumavalavan of the VCK party, in a press release,.took exception to Muslims being kept in lockdown during Ramzan period.
Another incident in Thengapattinam in Kanniyakumari district, a mob attacked the police & health workers who arrived to a test a pastor for corona symptoms. To preserve their minority votes, All the MLAs arrived and instructed the authorities not to touch the community.
With the lock-down drawing to a close by May 3, these increasing numbers and these incidents run a feeler of increasing impatience and restlessness among the general public. It is high time TN government notice the indications and act strongly and swiftly against the elements that disrupt the very reason of lock-down.
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