MADURAI: Between June 14 and 15, 13 people associated with the wholesale market at Paravai and the Mattuthavani fruit market tested positive for Covid-19. Ten days on, the district administration and the health officials are yet to be forthcoming with actual data on those tested positive from these markets.
The result is speculations whether Madurai has got its own unenviable Koyambedu-like cluster. On June 14, two men -a shop owner and an accountant at Paravai market - tested positive for coronavirus infection. Nine of their primary contacts tested turned positive on June 15.
Meanwhile, a shop owner at Mattuthavani fruit market, who had returned from Chennai, tested positive along with one of his family members. Following this, both the markets were shut down for disinfection until further notice. Collector TG Vinay had earlier said that all those associated with both the markets would be tested.
While sources said that around 300 people at the market areas were tested every day since June 15, district administration and the health officials have maintained an eerie silence over the number of tests conducted and the results thereof. Meanwhile, the traders from Mattuthavani vegetable market are worried about this development. Speaking to TNIE, president of the Integrated Fruit and Vegetable Shopping Complex Traders AssociationMohan Raj claimed that the market would turn into a cluster if officials do not immediately intervene.
There are around 600 shops in Mattuthavani vegetable market, 200 in the fruit market and over 650 shops in Paravai wholesale market. Each shop has at least five persons, including the shop owner, working. More than 10,000 native traders are involved in daily trade in these markets. This apart from traders coming in from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
Around 5,000 people, including drivers and load men, travel to and fro between Madurai and the abovementioned places every day. While the district administration warns of stringent action against violators flouting the Standard Operating Procedures, traders complain that there is no monitoring mechanism to control the crowd.
"We have been urging the officials to install washbasin at the entry and exit and appoint a person to scan people using thermal scanners. No action has been taken so far," said a trader. After the market at Paravai was shut down, the vendors shifted their shops to Mattuthavani vegetable market. Now, the traders thronging the Paravaimarket are congregating at Mattuthavani, he added.
Last week, the district administration sought a list of 1,500 traders of the Mattuthavani vegetable market. The traders were informed that they would be tested for coronavirus. However, with the seven-day intensified lockdown, the wholesale markets have been shut down and thus no test has happened, said the traders. Collector T G Vinay and Deputy Director of Health Services Dr P Priya Raj were unavailable for comments.