Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Apr 27: Dakshina Kannada district has earned the 'corona hotspot' tag. At a time when the coronavirus cases were on the wane, the district suddenly witnessed two deaths. Now there is a fresh allegation levelled by some people who claim that the district administration, which is expected to control the pandemic, itself is responsible for spreading the disease.

In a worrisome development that the district administration has allowed, fish trucks from other states arrive at the fisheries port here at night. Large number of people gather at the fishing port. The district administration has been permitting fish supply here since the last four days. Over 2,000 people come together at Bunder area and the crowd does not care about social distance norm. Unloading is done there and auction of fishes is held. The workers are busy with this work without wearing masks, gloves, and other safety equipment.

Over a hundred trucks from other states come here every day. The fish bought here is supplied all over the coast the next day. There is risk of coronavirus infection getting passed on to other villages from here.

In the past, fish used to be exported from the fishing port here to other states. As deep sea fishing has been banned in Karnataka now, fish is coming in from states like Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. This being Ramzan period, the district administration has given special permission to conduct fish business at night. But as no arrangements were made to maintain social distance, chances of spreading coronavirus infection is high.

It this situation is allowed to prevail, chances of coronavirus spreading to different parts of the state from here are high.