Motorists crowd roads on Day 2

Coimbatore: Day 2 of the current phase of the lockdown saw more vehicles moving on the road and more people stepping out of their houses.
Emboldened by the absence of tough action on those venturing out, several people were out in public places compared to Monday.
Although offices, shops and commercial establishments were closed, scores of people on two-wheelers and several others in cars were seen driving on the roads.
Police have started stopping the vehicles and advising them not to venture out unnecessarily.
Some of the motorists said that they were construction workers or electricians while some gave excuses to police like they were going out to hotels to buy food.
“Yesterday, I didn’t come out because of stringent action by police. But today the contractor I work for called me in the morning for work,” said a mason who was going to a construction site at Ramanathapuram.
Towards evening, people were seen stepping out of their houses for walks and in groups in some places of the city.
Police said that they were told not to be tough with the public. During the previous total lockdown last year, police used to punish those who were loitering out.
“Now we are stopping them to inquire the reason for venturing out. If they give a genuine reason, we let them go. Or else we turn them away,’’ a police officer said. However, police said that if more people start coming out of houses, they would have no choice but to act tough.