CHENNAI: The
lockdown period has kicked in and ecommerce
companies will be allowed to home deliver essentials like rations and
groceries if they strictly follow protocols of contactless delivery,
Greater Chennai Corporation commissioner G Prakash said on Wednesday.
Personal protective equipment such as masks, gloves and caps should be worn by all employees, from production to delivery, he said, adding that sanitary inspectors and health department officials will carry out checks to see if the protocol is being followed.
"Companies that break the protocol at any point will be barred from delivering further."
Only daily groceries and vegetables can be home. Distribution of cooked food by any agency or volunteers is banned. "If anyone is found doing so, he or she will be dealt with by the provisions of law," he said.
Further, tea shops, where people gather in large numbers, are to be closed by 6 pm. "We have advised our flying squads and officials to look out for unwanted assembly in tea shops."
The corporation said all Amma Canteens will follow social distancing norms and will be open throughout the lockdown period. Corporation workers completed marking divider lines in most of Amma Canteens to ensure that people stand a metre apart while buying food. There are 407 Amma canteens in the city and additional food will be prepared in these canteens, in the wake of the lockdown, officials said.
Though necessary, the lockdown has come as a bane for food delivery agents who had been depending on the service and who will now be out of job for the next three weeks. The workforce was a mix of full-time delivery agents and those working part-time to support themselves.
"I was working part-time as a delivery agent to support my studies and family. Now, with the lockdown, there is no immediate option. It has come as a shock," said Rakesh, a final year college student.