Mayor asks civic admin to re-open Cotton Market
| Date :03-Apr-2020 |
Sandip Joshi, Mayor, interacting with merchants from Cotton Market area, on Thursday.
Staff Reporter :
Sandip Joshi, Mayor, has asked Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) administration to re-open Cotton Market immediately. He issued the directions after interacting with vegetable vendors and merchants, during his visit to various markets of the city on Thursday. The market was closed down for two days for spraying of disinfectant, but despite passage of two days, it has not been opened, said the office-bearers of Cotton Market Merchants’ Association during a meeting with Joshi. After hearing their plight, Joshi asked the civic administration to re-open the market.
The Mayor visited various market areas including Cotton Market. The office-bearers of Cotton Market Merchants’ Association told Joshi that since the administration had not allowed to re-open the market after March 31, it had affected their livelihood. They assured the Mayor that they would bring down the number of vehicles allowed in the market to reduce congestion. Besides, they also assured the Mayor to take various steps to ensure social distancing, deploying security at the entrance to curb crowding, and also to conduct business only between 7 am and 2 pm.
Joshi spoke to Mahesh Moroney, Deputy Municipal Commissioner, over cellphone and asked to immediately re-open Cotton Market. An official statement issued by NMC read that Joshi told Moroney that crowd of buyers was already dispersed as vegetable markets have been opened in various other parts of the city. The number of vehicles at Cotton Market could be restricted to 50 or 100, or the vehicles could be allowed in a phased manner. The administration should re-open the Cotton Market on certain terms and conditions to ensure compliance with COVID-19 guidelines, he added.