Businessmen and leaders of trade unions from the city met Anantapur Urban MLA Anantha Venkatarami Reddy and urged him to prevail upon the district administration to relax the stringent COVID-19 Unlock 3 norms.
Short duration of relaxation from the lockdown is resulting in crowding of places where essential items are being sold and this, according to Mr. Reddy, leads to spurt in COVID-19 positive cases. The MLA in a letter to the District Collector on Tuesday pointed out that other district headquarters towns in the State were allowing shops to remain open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the same practice should be followed in Anantapur also.
“Instead of ensuring physical distancing of people during this pandemic, the district administration’s measure to allow the movement of people only between 6 a.m. and 11 a.m. is having a negative impact. Moreover, Sundays the shops are totally out of bounds for the people, forcing them to scramble for essentials in the five hours the next day,” the MLA told The Hindu.
“While the new town area of the city is relatively free from the restrictions, the same in the old town areas also must be eased and businessmen be allowed to keep their shops open,” he urged the district administration in the letter.
Two days ago Bharatiya Janta Party district secretary Duddakunta Venkateswara Reddy too expressed similar views and demanded extension of relaxations.
