Grocers will receive fresh stock soon: South Goa collector

MARGAO: South Goa collector Ajit Roy on Friday said that grocery stores and shops across Goa will be flush with food items within a day or two, as trucks and other goods carriers that were stranded at various places have now been allowed to proceed to their respective destinations.
“The Centre took a decision last night to allow all trucks in transit stranded at state borders to proceed to their destinations.All such vehicles which were unable to come to Goa will now start coming in. We will now have markets full of all essential food items,” Roy said.
The South Goa district administration has also stopped enrolling volunteers as it has focused its attention on streamlining the food supply chain. “We don’t need volunteers, as all grocery shops and fruit and vegetable stalls will be kept open without any time restrictions,” Roy said.
However, Roy stressed that movement of vehicles has been completely prohibited, except for those engaged in ‘essential services’ and for emergency situations. “We will be increasing deployment (of security personnel) for strict checking for any movement of vehicles,” he said.
The South Goa administration has also appointed incident commanders talukawise to take control of the situation, and new quarantine centres are being identified to house Covid-19 suspects.
Sources said that while grocery shops will be encouraged to do home delivery of goods, vegetable vendors will also be asked to sell their goods moving door-to-door. “The idea is to ensure that there are not many people on the streets. Though all grocery shops will be open, police have been asked to close down the shops if people are found crowding the shops or not maintaining social distancing,” a senior official told TOI.
Director, civil supplies and consumer affairs, Siddhivinayak Naik, said that all fair price shops will be open from April 1. The state government, he said, has decided to allot twice the quantity of food items to beneficiaries of fair prices shops. “We have enough stocks to last us until next month,” Naik said.