A Chennai man has been booked by the city police for breaking COVID-19 protocol after his promotional offer for his new eatery resulted in crowding and traffic jam.
Zahir Hussain, a native of Virudhunagar had a new biryani shop being inaugurated in Aruppukottai on Sunday.
A #Biryani -seller, who charged a plate of the eatable only Rs 10, was booked by #TamilNadu Police for attracting huge crowd in and outside shop.@CMOTamilNadu https://t.co/7O6sGc8nb2
— BriflyNews (@briflynews) October 21, 2020
https://twitter.com/AgneeVanshi/status/1318599855892131840?s=20
The poster he had put up, publicising this offer said that the Rs 10-a plate biryani would be available only for two hours between 11 am and 1 pm on Sunday. By 11 am, people had reportedly started gathering in front of his shop without masks or physical distancing between each other. The crowd around the shop naturally spilled onto the road near it.
The shop had prepared around 2500 packets of biryani to sell on Sunday, in anticipation of a grand reception. However, by the time the shop sold 500 packets, the police arrived and chased the crowd, which by that time had started blocking the traffic on the road, away. Two policemen were also stationed in front of the shop to prevent further crowding of people. Zahir was then taken into custody.
Sources said, by 10.30 am, several people had started lining up in front of the shop, which number blew up after the shop opened, leaving the road swamped with people, many of whom did not wear masks or follow physical distancing.
The volunteers arrived in a vehicle and took away the food.
