e-Paper
Visitors to the Thennampalayam vegetable market in Tiruppur, India's knitwear hub in Tamil Nadu, were surprised on Wednesday when they were asked to walk through a "disinfection tunnel" before entering the sprawling grounds to shop.
The tunnel is part of efforts by the Tiruppur district administration to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, reported Deccan Herald.
It is the brainchild of Mr D. Venkatesh, who owns a water treatment company in Tirupur, reported The New Indian Express.
"The Covid-19 scare and the curfew have made the life of the common man miserable," he told the paper. "Last Sunday (March 29), there was a huge crowd at Thennampalayam market and most people did not follow social distancing. The police were unable to handle the situation and, as a result, the market was closed.
"This caught my attention and I decided to resolve the issue with the use of technology."
People who enter the market are asked to wash their hands and walk through the tunnel for three to four seconds during which sprayers overhead sprinkle protective substance on them.
The effect of the spray lasts one hour.
The district's Collector K. Vijayakarthikeyan, who inaugurated the tunnel, said it was tested and passed by a team of doctors.
The tunnel costs less than Rs1 lakh ($1,885) to build and install. It can run for 16 hours continuously.
It is the first such tunnel installed in India, after similar ones were set up in Thailand and Turkey recently.
