Delhi: Viral clips show no social distancing at Ghazipur mandi

NEW DELHI: While Delhi government managed to decongest the Azadpur auction yard with some new steps to reduce the number of people and vehicles, Ghazipur wholesale fruit and vegetable market saw a large number of vendors crowding the place on Friday, throwing social distancing in view of the Covid epidemic for a toss.
A huge crowd of vegetable vendors and other customers gathered at the entrance of the wholesale market even as the officials at the Mandi tried to enforce social distancing.The videos of the huge crowd of people with bags and plastic crates gathering at the gate and later police officials asking them to stand in a queue went viral on social media.
Ghazipur Agricultural Produce Marking Committee secretary Shyam Lal, however, said the crowd gathered due to change in the timings of the Mandi that came in effect from Thursday, leading to confusion among the buyers.
People stand in a queue ignoring social distancing at the entrance of Ghazipur vegetable market
“We had changed the timing of the mandi just a day earlier to open for the buyers from 4am to 6am. Since they were not aware of the change, the crowd gathered outside. We have again reverted to the old timings to ensure that they don’t feel any inconvenience,” Shyam Lal said.
He added that the mandi committee had taken several measures to enforce social distancing in view of coronavirus epidemic. “We have also introduced thermal scanning for anyone entering the mandi and deployed public announcement systems to make people aware of the necessity to maintain social distancing,” Shyam Lal added.
Meanwhile, two health teams at Azadpur mandi carried out medical tests of a large number of traders and staff on Friday. The arrival of vegetables and fruits was slightly less than 6,000 tons but the officials said that it was enough to cater to the need of Delhiites and no surge in pricing was noticed owing to any scarcity.