Tirupati: Novel steps to help maintain social distancing

Almost 5 days past the announcement of the 21 day nationwide lockdown by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, people of Tirupati are grateful to the Municipal Commissioner P S Girisha, IAS, for introducing novel ideas to encourage social distancing and make the lives in isolation a little easier.

Following the announcements of the state government and the central government regarding the lockdown, citizens panicked and wanted to stock up vegetables and other supplies.

They rushed to the markets in huge numbers. This was counterproductive as social distancing guidelines were not being followed.

Taking this into consideration, P S Girisha initiated steps to encourage social distancing among the citizens in an innovative way.

Boxes were drawn with chalk powder in front of the markets, with considerable distance between 2 boxes and buyers were urged to stand in these boxes and wait for their turn to buy vegetables.

Volunteers were placed at these markets to manage the buyers and make sure that social distance is maintained.

Girisha has also mentioned that mass cleansing will take place in all wards where bleaching and sodium hypochlorite will be sprayed along the streets and in front of houses in order to try and disinfect the city.

He has also initiated steps to facilitate home delivery of vegetables, groceries and other essential goods from wednesday.

He and his team also found that people started flooding supermarkets to stock up on groceries and other essential items, post the announcement of lockdown. This led to the commissioner along with his team holding meetings with the managements of popular supermarkets in the city and requesting them to facilitate home delivery services.

People can now order groceries through phone and WhatsApp and get them delivered to their homes.

Girisha’s initiative to help out daily wage workers, migrant workers and beggars during the lockdown situation has been receiving appreciation from various parts of the state.

Taking into consideration the situation of the homeless beggars and construction workers, Girisha has discussed with the TTD administration and convinced them to provide the second satram of TTD to accommodate the homeless.

The commissioner also made sure they have food, along with the accommodation. He visited the satram on Tuesday to talk with the migrant workers to enquire about their condition.

Despite all the panic and fear that the spread of COVID-19 has created, administrators like Girisha have been working endlessly to avoid the community spread of the virus and to ensure availability of essential goods to all the public.