If during the lockdown, one is desperate to experience ‘normalcy’, they can head to any of the three localities in the city — Begum Bazar, Osman Gunj, or Moazzam Jahi Market — during morning hours.
While the State government is crying itself hoarse about the need to maintain physical distance, hardly any such thing is observed at these locations, abuzz with commercial activity on a daily basis. The markets are thronged by retailers and transport vehicles between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m. even during lockdown.
Several wholesale traders indulging in hectic transactions here can be seen without masks or gloves exposing themselves and retail purchasers to the danger of the pandemic.
Begum Bazar is the hub of wholesale transactions for the entire city when it comes to groceries, spices and condiments, dry fruits and other provisions, while Osman Gunj deals heavily in commodities such as garlic and ginger.
While the area is home to several large warehouses, the actual outlets where transactions take place are but diminutive tenements, which can accommodate two persons at the maximum. Besides, narrow lanes chock-a-block with transport vehicles and two-wheelers hardly leave any space for maintaining physical distance.
“I wholly depend on Begum Bazar and Osman Gunj for supplies to my grocery store. Owing to empty shelves in supermarkets, the customer turnout is higher after lockdown, forcing me to make more rounds to the wholesaler,” said K. Lakshman, a grocery store owner from Dilsukhnagar.
News about a retailer in the city contracting the infection has only increased the fears. Another person who bought groceries from Begum Bazar to distribute among the poor in Boduppal too is said to have contracted the virus.
Though lower in number, crowds can also be seen at Moazzam Jahi Market, which is one of the major markets when it comes to fruits, with no physical distance being observed whatsoever. With the onset of Ramzan month, the throngs are only set to increase in size leading to a more chaotic situation.
Police, though present there, are doing precious little to control crowds or organise them into queues. “Markets are allowed to be open. We cannot ask them to shut down, as they deal in essential commodities,” says a policeman at the location, expressing helplessness to control such large crowds.
