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Watch: TN CM EPS tells people to buy groceries once a week during lockdown

People should not go to the shops everyday for the purchase of essentials, the Chief Minister said.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami asked people in the state on Friday to purchase groceries, vegetables and other essential items once a week. Frustrated by many defying the nationwide lockdown in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, the Chief Minister asked people not to leave their home everyday. 

Earlier this week, shocking visuals emerged of a traffic jam on a flyover in Padi, Chennai, causing chaos, with hundreds of vehicles jostling with each other. Restrictions under Section 144, prohibiting the gathering of more than five persons at any place, are currently in place across the state.

Speaking to reporters in Chennai where he distributed relief material to migrant workers, the Chief Minister said, “Despite how much we tell them, some people are not listening. But from now, the law has to do its duty. The government has cooperated with people to the extent possible. If the people fail to use the cooperation in the right manner, the government has no option but to intensify the restrictions under Section 144.”

Stating that there are logistical challenges in enabling businesses selling groceries to function as well as allowing people to buy groceries, Chief Minister Palaniswami said, “It is the duty of the government to provide for the needs of the people. People should use it in the right way.”

“People should not go to the shops everyday for the purchase of essentials. If they are going to the vegetable shop, they should buy the vegetables necessary for one week and keep it at home. If people buy and keep groceries for one week, there is no need to come out daily. But people should follow it. We keep insisting this, it is the duty of the people to follow it,” he said.

He also said that the state government was providing for migrant workers in Tamil Nadu and was coordinating with their home states.

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Source: The News Minute