Corpn shuts traffic on Marina Loop Road after overcrowding at fish market during lockdown

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:30.03.2020

The Corporation has asked Chennai police to barricade both the entrances to the Loop Road near Marina beach to prevent overcrowding. Officials said that a large number of people thronging the fish market without heeding the warnings forced them to take the step.

Corporation Commissioner G Prakash said that Loop Road will remain closed from both ends till further orders.

The 2.5 km stretch extends from Light house near Marina till Foreshore Estate and houses tenements of the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) and fishing hamlets.

On Sunday, the congregation of people to fish stalls along the road went beyond control. “It was as if the Covid-19 (novel coronavirus) scare does not exist,” a corporation official said. As many as 400 stalls function along the stretch of the road, including those of fishermen from other areas.

While similar ruckus was witnessed at other markets in the city too, the civic body decided to close the stretch for traffic. Public from several neighbourhoods came to the loop road stalls to buy fresh fish, inspite of the lockdown.

According to officials, residents from Triplicane, Mylapore, Mandaveli, Santhome, Adyar and Egmore regularly come to the market near the Loop Road every Sunday, leading to a massive crowd.

Later in the day, after the stalls shut for business and the crowds dispersed, the corporation staff used drones to disinfect the stretch.

“Though the crowd was more owing to the weekend, we have decided to shut traffic until the end of the lockdown. This will not restrict movement of residents. It is only to prevent those from other neighbourhoods from using the stretch,” an official with Zone 9 (Teynampet) said.

The Marina loop road is under the watch of the Madras high court, which has suggested the corporation extend the road up to Besant Nagar, to reduce the traffic burden on the beach road.

Workers of Chennai corporation disinfecting the Marina loop road with the help of a drone on Sunday