TN turns silent on the first day of Nationwide lockdown

Tamil Nadu turned silent on Wednesday, the first day of the 21-day lockdown with shops, offices and factories closed, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement on Tuesday to prevent the spread of Coronavirus.

With borders closed, complete halt of public transport and declaration of prohibitory orders, most of the roads in the state were empty subject to certain exceptions.

In Madurai, where one person died due to Coronavirus infection, police fined motorists who were on the roads.

In the morning, the Gandhi Market in Trichi saw good crowd with people coming out to buy vegetables. However, the police asked them to go back. Police said people can buy vegetables from their neighbourhood shops and not from wholesale markets.

In Kancheepuram, people queued up at the fish market maintaining sufficient gap between two persons. Otherwise the temple town roads were largely empty and shops remained closed.

In the state capital Chennai, all the business establishments were closed. Even the banks and insurance companies were closed due to Ugadi festival, the Knanada and Telugu New Year.