Markets to compete for adherence to Covid norms

Bhubaneswar: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Saturday started a competition among the markets to motivate traders to follow social distancing and other Covid-19 norms to contain the spread of the virus.
At a special meeting with the market representatives on Saturday, the BMC said the market adjudged as the best in terms of ensuring Covid norms, will be rewarded.The BMC will make it a model worth replicating like the Bhilwara model of Rajasthan, BMC officials said.
Anu Garg, special Covid-19 observer for the capital city, said the traders were motivated to take responsibility and set an example by adhering to all the norms like social distancing, wearing masks and maintaining hand hygiene. “We started the competition to change things for the better,” she told TOI.
Despite strict enforcement, regular raids and closure of markets violating norms, there has hardly hardly been any tangible result in terms of social distancing as people continue to jostle for space in grocery, vegetable and other markets.
Rajdhani Haata Byabasayi Sangha president Gayadhar Swain said the competition will embolden the spirit of the markets. “The Unit-I market has little space to maintain social distance. But it has to be maintained. We will appeal to the vendors to remove the extension using polythene sheets. The representatives of different markets have agreed to cooperate with the enforcement squads,” he said, adding the announcement of competition has encouraged the market associations.
The city has around 28 big markets that are managed by the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation and the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA). Besides, there are a number of small and big markets, which are privately managed.
The BMC officials said the squads will conduct surprise raids and evaluate the performance of the markets on a daily basis to prepare a weekly assessment report every Saturday.
The city on Saturday reported 126 fresh Covid-19 positive cases taking the infected count to 2,861. Of the 126 cases, 77 have been reported from quarantine (home and institutional). With 17 deaths and 1,566 recoveries, the city now has 1,277 active cases.