Ashok, a plantain leaf seller, was waiting for customers in the Central Market here to sell the last few leaves left in his stall, reported by The Hindu.

“I will be closing down the stall from tomorrow. I opened my stall today because of Ugadi tomorrow. I hope to sell the few banana leaves left before noon,” he said.

As hotels and temples, the two major customers for plantain leaf, have closed down, Ashok has not ordered leaves from Salem since Sunday. “What I have now are the leaves that I got from Puttur and nearby areas. I would open the stall only when the situation turns normal,” he said.

While flower sellers had closed down their business, vegetable and fruit vendors saw brisk sales at the Central Market till noon. The district administration, which has announced lockdown till March 31, has allowed grocery shops, vegetable vendors, fruit sellers to operate between 6 a.m. and noon.

“We did brisk sales of fruits and vegetables yesterday. Today too, we saw a good number of customers,” said Abdul Ravoof, a fruit vendor. Ravoof and others like him received stock of fruits from Bengaluru on Tuesday. “Except grapes, other fruits can be preserved for a day or two,” he added.

Vegetable vendor Mohammed Yunus said that while people were buying out of panic, vendors were less hopeful of getting fruits and vegetables from Benglauru and other parts of the State from Wednesday. “Today, we were allowed to run our business for four hours. It will be gradually reduced, and ultimately, we need to completely close our shops for about a fortnight,” he said.

Image source: The Hindu