Last-minute shoppers throng Little India

Heavy traffic in Little India, Brickfields as people headed there for their last-minute shopping needs for the various celebrations.

DESPITE the government’s movement control order (MCO) to control the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, hundreds of people were in Little India in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur on Monday evening for their last-minute shopping needs for Tamil New Year, Vishu and Vaisakhi.

StarMetro learned that the police were called in to disperse traffic at the main road of Jalan Tun Sambanthan which was lined with rows of cars, parked bumper to bumper.

“There were cars double- and

triple-parked along the road causing a tailback of up to several hundred metres, ” said a resident of Crescent Court who preferred to remain anonymous.

“From my apartment I could see everything and it was jammed despite the MCO, ” she said, adding that it resembled a Deepavali shopping scene.

“To be fair, while some shops observed social distancing, it was evident that the shopkeepers were struggling, due to the large crowd, ’’ said K. Ramoo who went to buy flowers.

In some stores, the staff checked customers’ temperatures and offered them hand sanitisers before they were allowed to enter the shops.

“But once customers were inside the shops, all social distancing rules flew out of the window as people started crowding too close to each other, ” added Ramoo.

There were also a few illegal stalls that sprouted in front of the shops selling Indian sweets and cakes.

The stall owners, who were foreigners, were not wearing gloves as they packed food for customers.

There was clearly no social distancing between them as the customers stood close to each other while queueing up.

However, once the police arrived on the scene, there seemed to be some semblance of orderliness in place.