An alternate vegetable market at Thirumazhisai will possibly start operations from Sunday onwards, as the site will be inspected by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam on Saturday. The inspection will be followed by the allotment of shops at Thirumazhisai to the vegetable vendors from Koyambedu wholesale market, which was shuttered on Monday evening due to a spike of COVID-19 cases in the area.
According to a report in the Times of India, each shop in Thirumazhisai market will be given around 400-500 square-feet, with a front area of 200 square-feet to enable adequate physical distancing between customers. The market at Thirumazhisai was supposed to begin operations by May 7, as per an earlier announcement made when Koyambedu market was shut down. Vegetable prices in the city have spiked due to shortage of stock in the market over the last few days.
The government has been given a list, compiled by the market management, consisting of around 450 wholesale traders who need to be allocated shops in Thirumazhisai. They have, however, also demanded more space for shops in Thirumazhisai since their shops in Koyambedu ranged anywhere between 600 and 2400 square-feet.
The Koyambedu vegetable market was closed on Monday night after more and more cases of COVID-19 began to emerge from the cluster. As of Friday evening, 1589 persons in Tamil Nadu who have tested positive for COVID-19 have been identified as being part of the Koyambedu cluster. The cluster’s impact has also spread to districts across Tamil Nadu, like Cuddalore, Villupuram, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram, which also recorded an increased number of new cases in the past few days.
As of Friday evening, Tamil Nadu has 6009 cases of COVID-19, which includes over 1500 cases as part of the Koyambedu cluster. Three persons, who were undergoing treatment for the infection, died on Friday, and 1605 patients have been discharged on recovery.