COVID-19 | Fourteen-day lockdown begins in Karnataka

DG &IGP Praveen Sood clarifies that police are not issuing any passes during the lockdown and asked people not to believe messages being circulated on social media.

On the first day of the 14-day lockdown, people were allowed to come out of their houses to purchase essential commodities from 6 a.m to 10 a.m. Thereafter, police were seen forcibly closing shops and markets, and barricading roads to discourage non-essential movement of people. Closure of shops and markets riked shop owners who could not sell perishable items such as vegetables, flowers and others. Vendors were seen arguing with police about the 10 a.m deadline. At the historical K. R. Market, police forcibly closed shops after 10 a.m. G.M. Divakar, president of K.R. Market Flower Merchants’ Association, told The Hindu that just around 10% of the flowers that usually come to the market were brought in by farmers. “There is still some confusion among farmers, Wednesday being the first day. We hope business picks up eventually though,” he said and added that there were around 1,000 daily wage workers who lived in the market.