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Massive response to partial lockdown in Vijayawada
Police officials erect barricade and ask shops to close in Vijayawada on Wednesday (Photo: Ch Venkata Mastan)
l All shops closed down by 12 noon l Public transport hit by lockdown l Autos, other vehicles off the road
Vijayawada: The partial lockdown announced by the state government to check the increasing Covid cases in the State evoked huge response in Vijayawada and other parts of Krishna district on Wednesday.
Shops, banks, restaurants, cinema halls, automobile, mobile showrooms, mega shopping malls and supermarkets were closed by 12 noon and all roads in the city wore a deserted look. There was a massive response from the people for the announcement made by the government for partial lockdown from May 5 to 18 to break Covid chain.
The daily covid cases crossed 20,000 mark in the State and situation is getting worse in the district and State in recent days because thousands of people are infected with coronavirus new variant. The impact of lockdown was visible since early morning in Vijayawada city as people started doing important works like purchasing groceries, vegetables, milk and other essentials and returned home by 12 noon. Hundreds of police personnel were deployed in all important junctions of the city to patrol the roads and create awareness among the people on the lockdown and importance of breaking the Covid chain to contain the cases.
In Vijayawada, the Eluru road, MG Road, Beasant road, K Market junction looked deserted without public on the road by 1 pm. Commercial areas like Governorpet, Labbipet, Gandhi Nagar, Sivaji café centre, Machavaram, Sivalayam street in One Town area were deserted as people left homes before noon.
Except hospitals, labs, petrol bunks, medical shops almost all other shops were closed. Even petty hawkers were also off the roads in Beasant road, K Market centre, wholesale fruit market in Kedareswara Pet and other areas in the city. The Pandit Nehru bus station, one of the biggest in India, was empty without passengers. The short distance and city services operated by RTC ended by 12 noon and all buses returned to the depots. The RTC with fleet of 10,000 buses decided to operate only short distance services during the lockdown period till May 18 and asked the staff to return to depots by noon at any cost.
Thousands of autos which play important role in the ferrying the common people in the city were off the roads from 12 noon onwards. Very limited number of people who were going to urgent works were allowed on the roads in the city.
