BHOPAL: Corona safety protocols and guidelines which were in place during the Pandemic in 2020, seem to have evaporated from the markets here.
The circles drawn in front of shops for buyers to maintain social distancing, ropes tied around the gates of shops to restrict entry of visitors and hand sanitisers have all disappeared from the scene as the virus has made an exit.
Even the scenes of people shaking hands and hugging each other in markets, unmasked to be precise, are common view.
Following the resurgence of the virus, the government had to impose Sunday lockdown and even night restrictions in most parts of the state.
The administration fined over 800 persons on Sunday for violation of lockdown but on other days, the figure shrunk to less than 100 the next day. The traders themselves are not wearing masks in almost all the markets and less than 100 persons were imposed fines in this regard.
Shopkeepers are not taking any Covid-19 safety precautions at their outlets in Bhopal | FP photo
Even in a few markets, the traders themselves have drawn circles but no one is following the safety protocol. Carrying a hand sanitiser and wearing masks are no more a compulsion, it seems, for these residents.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan himself is appealing people visiting different cities to follow corona norms as the fear of the deadly virus is very much there. But, even in the state capital, residents are behaving as they are shielded and have a special kind of kawach to save them from the virus .
Only 77 challans issued
On the other hand, the district administration is making less than 100 challans for not wearing masks in a day. On Thursday, total 77 challans were made against those who flouted the mask norms. This is the average figure of challans in a day ever since the civic body resumed imposing fines from February 24. The traders associations in markets though urge visitors to wear masks but their pleas fail to evoke any response.
