Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Friday took to the streets of state capital Shillong to oversee the arrangements made for selling of essential items on the third day of the nation-wide lockdown.
During his tour, Sangma urged people to maintain distance from one another as they queued up for stocking groceries.
Chaotic scenes were witnessed in Shillong on Friday after shops opened to allow people to purchase essential commodities.
Despite the government advisory that only one person from each family is allowed to go out to buy essential items, people in large numbers thronged the streets failing to maintain physical distance.
A large number of vehicles were also seen plying in the city, and the traffic policemen had to force vehicles without valid car passes to return home.
“People need to adhere to the health department guidelines and strictly self isolate themselves in their respective houses to ensure that the State is not in the COVID-19 pandemic map,” a visibly upset local resident, M .Rapthap, said seeing people overcrowding at a store in Laitumkhrah market.
A senior citizen, S Lamare, lambasted the government for not taking action against lockdown violators.
“I don’t know why the police are not taking action against these lockdown violators. It is like any normal Sunday in Shillong with people driving on the road, walking and sitting on the roadside,” Lamare asked.
Ironically, the rural folks appeared more sensible and adhered to the health department guidelines on physical social distancing on Friday when they came out to replenish their essential items.
The Chief Minister admitted that the government has received complaints about citizens not maintaining social distancing in a few locations around the city.
“Physical distancing is so crucial for our safety and for the safety of everyone around us. We need to take a personal initiative and underscore the seriousness of the situation. Please educate everyone around you,” the Chief Minister said.
“Our responsible citizens practiced social distancing at Lumparing, Langkyrding, Mawngap, Mawryngkheng and Keating Road today,” he added.
Urging citizens to cooperate with the authorities, the chief minister reassured that “Food supplies will be enough and there is no need to panic.”
The state government has also initiated measures for online buying of essential items, which would be delivered on the doorsteps of the customers during the period of lockdown.
To ensure that essential commodities are made available to citizens at their doorsteps, especially in urban areas, Chief Secretary M. S Rao said that store.meghamart.com has been activated as an end-to-end essential commodity ordering and delivery platform. Both cash and online payments will be accepted.
He said the service will be operational in Shillong from Friday and at Tura and Jowai from March 28. Other local sites meghabazzar.com, IEW (App on Google Play), narifresh.com and syllad.com have been brought on board.
Rao said big retail chains like Vishal Megamart and our local entrepreneurs are also ready to home-delivery from 27th March 2020 at Shillong, Tura, Jowai and Williamnagar, and all their contact details are available on store.meghamart.com.
Caption: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Friday overseeing the arrangements made for selling of essential items. He urged citizens to maintain physical social distancing on the third day of the nation-wide lockdown
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