COURTESY HT  FEB 1

Apni mandis resume in UT today

Rajanbir Singh

rajanbir.singh@htlive.com

Chandigarh : Residents’ long wait for easy access to vegetables and fruits will end on Monday with apni mandis returning to the city after a hiatus of 10 months.

The local vegetable markets were shut down in March 2020 in view of the Covid-19 pandemic and will now resume after a decision by UT administrator and Punjab governor VP Singh Badnore at the war room meeting on January 25.

“Vegetable and fruit sellers will have to maintain a minimum distance of two metres from each other and wear masks. Only farmers registered with the Punjab Mandi Board will be allowed to set stalls at the mandi after presenting their registration card,” said mandi supervisor for Chandigarh, Satish Kumar.

There will be no cap on the number of visitors at a mandi, as long as the Covid protocols, including social distancing and wearing masks, are maintained.

Officials of the Punjab Mandi Board (PMB) confirmed that the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (MC) had written to them to start the mandi from Monday.

PMB auction recorder Harpreet Singh said the decision had brought huge relief to farmers, who sold their produce directly to the public.

MC staff have been preparing the original mandi sites by sanitising them. “For all these months, roadside vendors had been overcharging residents because they had no other choice. Reopening of apni mandis will help keep the price of vegetables and fruits in check. We urge residents to follow the Covid safety protocols so that the mandis can function smoothly,” said Hitesh Puri, chairman of the Chandigarh Resident Associations Welfare Federation (CRAWFED).