Hyderabad: Panic buying at tobacco selling shops, pharmacies

Hyderabad: Finding many people suddenly at tobacco, hookah and pan shops on Tuesday, several traders were not able to control crowds; they had to down shutters to avoid overcrowding amid rising Covid cases.

Though the government also stated on Tuesday that there would be relaxation for all activities from 6 am to 10 am, apart from purchasing essential commodities, many people rushed to wholesale Chaliya (pan stores) to buy tobacco products, cigarettes, pan masala, gutka, and other items used for pan due to the lockdown announcement. Throwing physical distancing norms to wind, hundreds in different parts of the City rushed to market places for purchasing tobacco and other products that men mostly are habituated to chewing.

Moreover, hookah and its tobacco flavour selling shops at Moazzam Jahi Market witnessed many youngsters."We have nothing to do as our colleges are shut and online classes donot last for more than five hours. So hookah is the way we can fight boredom with," said Anirudh Gupta, a youngster at a hookah store.

In the afternoon almost every pharmacy had long queues, as people were in dire need of medicines and were afraid of shortage, after the State government announced a partial lockdown for 10 days

Customers in the market forced wholesalers to close their shops. Such incidents were witnessed in Begum Bazar, Abids , Nampally, King Koti, Tolichowki. Other areas witnessed heavy traffic jams as people rushed. The police had to intervene and close stores that were leading to traffic snarls as people, standing in queues outside shops, had parked vehicles on roads causing traffic jams. They breached social distancing norms imposed to contain the spread of the second wave of the Covid-19.

During the first phase of lockdown, tobacco addicts in the City were disappointed because they were unable to purchase pan, gutka, cigarettes, pan masala, and chaliya. This has given them a lot of pain. They were seen buying all the tobacco products at double the MRP rate. "I cannot imagine a day without tobacco. Now that the government has announced lockdown I am stocking it up for a month, said Rahul Landeri, who bought tobacco worth Rs 2,000.

Photos and videos were being widely shared on social media showing movement of vehicles as soon as the State government made the lockdown announcement.