VALPOI
Throwing all caution to wind, locals in Honda panchayat area openly flouted restrictions imposed by the government thronging the weekly bazaar.
The government had extended the curfew up to May 31 in an attempt to arrest the rising number of Covid cases in the State.
But it was life as usual in Honda and people were found freely moving in the market.
Complaints to the panchayat fell on deaf ears as the local body failed to take any action.
Police later cracked the whip and shut down the market at around 1 pm after concerned citizens raised a hue and cry.
It may be recalled that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant in his interaction with panchayat members had recently urged the local bodies to take steps to shut down such markets and had urged people to cooperate.
Meanwhile, reports emerging from Honda suggest that the area is turning into a Covid hotspot with the number of positive cases increasing.
Positive home-isolated patients are found to be freely moving in the market with no checks whatsoever from concerned authorities. This created an atmosphere of fear among the residents who have called for immediate measures to control this.
Sarpanch of Honda recently called for a meeting in this regard and an appeal has been made to the Deputy Collector to ensure some sort of control so the situation does not go out of hand.
