nagpur streets were deserted vehicular movement was thin and marketplaces were empty on saturday the first day of the twoday weekend restrictions to curb the spread of covid the scenario somewhat appeared like the summer of 2020 when the scorching sun sent citizens ducking for cover only shops dealing in essential commodities were open after district guardian minister nitin raut mayor dayashankar tiwari municipal commissioner radhakrishnan b collector ravindra thackeray and commissioner of police amitesh kumar appealed to citizens to remain indoorscentral avenue wardha road amravati road north ambazari road kamptee road automotive square indora chowk variety square rani jhansi square lic square were silent for most part of the day the sitabuldi main road kelibagh road which are abuzz with activities due to hawkers too wore a deserted look a few who violated the restrictions were penalized by both nmcs nuisance detection squad and city policepolice personnel were on the streets to ensure that people didnt venture out without a valid reason some men in khaki were struggling to convince people who were out on the streets for unimportant reasons the police and civic cops got into verbal spats with some shopkeepers but the situation didnt escalate in one incident the owner of a cooler shop in nehru nagar zone started arguing with the civic cops after being told to down his shutter we somehow managed to convince him said an official even though the instructions regarding the weekend restrictions were clear many seemed ignorant in hanuman nagar zone an insurance company was found open but the zones assistant municipal commissioner sushma mandge prevented the nds team from taking actionpublic transport including aapli bus and autos was in operation against the fleet of 250 aapli buses that the nmc plies on normal days only 183 were used on 60 routes as most of the markets were closed buses too witnessed less commuters raut radhakrishnan and top cop kumar toured many areas to review the situation mayor tiwari too was on the streets to ensure that nagpurians stayed indoors while visiting vegetable markets in itwari and gokulpeth tiwari was seen requesting both vendors and buyers to use masks and follow physical distancingthe weekend restrictions were imposed in view of the crowded markets on saturdays and sundays in separate statements raut and tiwari thanked traders and citizens for supporting the weekend curbskumar who visited market areas like itwari mahal and sitabuldi said that on the whole citizens followed instructions on sunday police personnel would facilitate the movement of students who have their exams at different centres the district administration has also undertaken some plans to support students by making provision for refreshments to be facilitated by the police said kumaron day one we deployed a large numbers of cops on the roads we acted against violators and also ensured that markets remained shut said kumarzonal dcp vinita sahu who accompanied guardian minister raut and cp kumar in sitabuldi market said the early hours had witnessed some additional movement of the masses