Coronavirus: It’s a battle of livelihood versus hygiene at KR Market

BBMP workers clearing KR Market on Thursday due to the lockdown over Covid-19. DH Photo/S K Dinesh

For Dh Akhil story: BBMP workers mixing Sodium Hydrochloride solution for spray in K R Market due to Caronavirus, Covid-19 lockdown in Bengaluru on Thursday. Photo by S K Dinesh

For Dh Akhil story: A homeless person at K R Market,. who said that she has lost access to food, due to Caronavirus, Covid-19 lockdown in Bengaluru on Thursday. Photo by S K Dinesh

An unwitting tussle has broken out between traders desperate to make a living and BBMP officials fighting hard to prevent the community spread of coronavirus at KR Market.

Fruit and vegetable vendors, arriving before dawn at the market, have complained of harassment and assault by police for selling their wares, while the police have barricaded the place to prevent fruit and vegetables from being brought into the area.

“If we allow even a few of the shops to open, a large crowd will gather and there won’t be social distancing,” said a sub-inspector manning one of the barricades.

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Traders who have been selling in the market for a long time feel the police heavy-handedness has only worsened their financial condition.

“Leaders announce on television that grocery sales should continue, but here the police are cracking down. What the government says is not being carried out (by the police) on the ground,” said Bhavani (48), a fruit seller.

Vendors whose average daily earning at the market range from Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 saw the income virtually disappear in the wake of the
lockdown.

On the other hand, Mohammed Naeem (31), a fruit vendor, said he supports the lockdown. He urged the government to give them stipends as promised by the chief minister to compensate their loss.

“We don’t want Karnataka to become another Italy. So, we support the closure, but without any compensation, it is becoming difficult to run our households,” he said.

Although the police had allowed most of the sellers at the market on Thursday to sell their old stocks, they were refusing entry to goods vehicles coming in with fresh stocks.

Hemanth, DC (Markets), BBMP, whose men temporarily seized crates of produce from sellers refusing to leave the market, described the efforts to maintain hygiene at the market as difficult without the vendors’ cooperation.

“I understand that their livelihoods are being affected, but we have the safety of the larger public at stake,” Hemanth said, as the BBMP and fire department personnel criticised traders who refused to move from the place to allow the process to disinfect the area.