TNI Bureau: The Commissionerate Police and Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) decided to crack the whip on shopkeepers in order to make them fall in line and strictly enforce the social distancing norms.

The shopkeepers in Bhubaneswar have been asked to maintain a 5 feet distance between buyers/customers by drawing circles and deploy one person outside to monitor this. People will have to buy the items by standing in queue.

“The exercise will continue for months till a new vaccine is developed or any other alternative is found”, said Police Commissioner Dr. Sudhanshu Sarangi. It may be implemented across the state, he added.

If there is any deviation and violation of the guidelines, trade license of the shopkeepers would be cancelled, their shops would be sealed and criminal proceedings will be initiated against them under the Disaster Management Act, Dr. Sarangi warned.