Daijiworld Media Network – Kundapur (EP)
Kundapur, Apr 21: Citizens were anguished at the Shastri circle on Tuesday, April 21 morning, as mobility was disrupted due to the barricades put up on the road leading to the market. While the people rushed to complete the shopping within the specified time ordered by the district administration, lined up vehicles due to police verification caused enormous chaos as people were getting delayed for the shopping.
Police personnel in Udupi had closed all the roads leading to the main market on Monday night and formed one way traffic by putting up barricades besides verifying each approaching vehicle. As per the administration's order, purchase of essential items could be done from 7 am to 11 am daily. But the authorities’ decision to verify every single vehicle during the shopping hours created annoyance in the people as they feared they would not be able to complete the shopping in the given hours. Bike riders were seen cursing the police.
The district administration had stated that there were no corona positive cases in the district so far. The deputy commissioner had said that the officials and the district administration had succeeded in preventing people coming from outside the district.
"Nobody goes around Kundapur main market after 11 am other than the police personnel and journalists. Harassing citizens who are arriving to buy the necessities during the specified time by the administration is not fair,” stated a bike rider in anguish.
Another person who had come to purchase essentials said, “Only items of daily use are available in the main market and nobody comes out of their houses without any need. But the police instead of inspecting vehicles arriving from other districts and states on the highway are harassing ordinary people in the market area.”
ASP Hariram Shanker, responding to the complaints said that the decision was taken after they had received complaints that people were gathering in crowds. “We will revert back to earlier methods after two days if we find that it is causing inconvenience to the local people,” he said.