Cases have been booked against the owner of a container truck and its two drivers for allegedly trying to ferry door-to-door cloth vendors to Rajasthan and Gujarat from Shivamogga city on Sunday evening by violating the lockdown order.
As many as 31 petty vendors from Gujarat and Rajasthan had come to Shivamogga six months ago for door-to-door sales of clothes. They were staying at rented rooms in Budha Nagar and New Mandli localities. After the enforcement of lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the Shivamogga City Corporation was providing food for them three times a day.
On Monday, they requested the driver and owner of a container truck that had brought surgical equipment and medicine from a pharmaceutical firm in Rajasthan to Shivamogga city, to ferry them to their native places. After the consignment of medicine and surgical equipment was unloaded, these vendors boarded the truck near Manjunatha Badavane.
A few people in the vicinity noticed this and alerted the police. When the vehicle was about to cross the border of Shivamogga city, the intercepted it and found 31 vendors in the truck.
No permission
The police said that they had not taken permission from the district administration to return to their native. The police have booked cases under section 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) of Indian Penal Code against Ismanuddin, owner of the truck, and Fairoz Khan and Mohammed Saijad, its drivers.
All the 31 vendors, the truck owner and two drivers have been sent to a quarantine facility.
