September 14, 2020: Amid the rising COVID-19 situation in Tripura, 'Civil Defence volunteers' are ensuring that social distancing norms are being followed in the vegetable market of Agartala to prevent the spread of infection.

Besides the new volunteers, boards stating, 'no mask, no vegetable' have been put up in the vegetable market to make sure that coronavirus norms are being adhered to.

"We are here to see that people wear masks and maintain distance. The situation is better in the market in the sense that everyone is using a mask. Vendors are not selling any items to those who found not wearing masks and we also object," said Bijaya Sinha, a Civil Defense volunteer.

Rasing concerns about the ongoing situation, vegetable vendor Narayan Sil said their business has gone down since the start of the pandemic, causing a spike in vegetable prices in the wholesale market.

"Now it is mandatory for us to wear a mask as we do our business here. But, often the customers cannot understand what we are saying as we also maintain distance. Our business has gone down as less number of people are coming out and moreover, the price of the vegetable in the wholesale market is high as there is a crisis since transportation has also been affected," said Sil.

Rajib Das, a customer at the vegetable market said, "Now offices are open and even in markets, people are present are not maintaining the norms."

"It is our demand that the administration assigns police in the markets to see there is no gathering," Das added.

As per the Union Health Ministry, active cases in the state stand at 7,584.