COVID-19: Guidelines issued to regulate movement of empty vehicles in Azadpur Mandi

The Azadpur Mandi, Asia's largest wholesale vegetable and fruit market, on Sunday issued guidelines to regulate the movement of empty vehicles in the area to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

The Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee's decision comes in the wake of a trader dying of coronavirus infection and three people contracting the disease this week.

A DDA ground in Burari has been earmarked as holding area for empty vehicles to reduce the traffic in and around the market, the committee's guidelines read.

All empty vehicles have to go to Burari ground and take a token before coming to the mandi for loading, it said. The entry of vehicles in the mandi will be strictly on the basis of the time mentioned in the token.

A total of 3,300 tokens will be issued from 5 am to 9 pm every day on first-come-first-serve basis.

"Three-hundred tokens will be issued for the first slot 5 am to 9 am. After that, 200 tokens will be issued every hour till 9 pm," the committee said.

The committee said a penalty of Rs 5,000 will be imposed on a trader or driver if a loaded or empty vehicle stays in the mandi for more than six hours.

On Saturday, samples were taken from 50 traders and workers for COVID-19 test. Over 400 traders, workers and accountants at the market were screened for the disease on Friday.