Chennai, April 25(IANS)

The Sunday lockdown turns effective in Tamil Nadu with people preferring to stay indoors and no vehicular movement across the state. Roads in Chennai wore a deserted look and police blocked the interior side roads of the city to prevent movement of vehicles and public.

Police had conducted awareness across the state on the Sunday lockdown and called upon people to stay indoors. Except for Medical shops and eateries which were open to provide takeaways , no other shops or establishments were opened in Chennai.

In Coimbatore, people preferred to stay indoors and there was very less vehicle movement in the city.  Ramakrishnan Harihari Hara Iyer, Chartered Accountant working at Coimbatore while speaking to BPNS said, “The awareness conducted by the administration has given the required results and almost all the people have stayed indoors. This is a welcome sign and this means that it is on the right track.”

In Madurai and Trichy also roads had a deserted look and no shops were opened except for the medical shops and eateries. The police had conducted public announcements across Madurai and Trichy districts and vehicular traffic even in highways was much less.

The southern most part of Tamil Nadu, Kanyakumari and adjoining areas also was totally devoid of traffic and shops and establishments were closed. Medical shops remained open at Kanyakumari and even at the Kanyakumari Devi temple devotees were not allowed darshan with only the temple employees given entry within the temple.

Salem, Erode and other parts of Western Tamil Nadu also had the impact of Sunday lockdown and no commercial establishments were open in these two towns.

Edappady which is the hometown of Chief Minister Edappady K Palaniswami also had zero vehicular movement and no shops except medical shops were open in the town. Even restaurants remained closed in this VIP constituency.