Home delivery of essentials fails in Mohali due to less workers

MOHALI: Complete chaos reigned in Mohali, as people were left in lurch when it came to essential commodities despite deputy commissioner (DC) Girish Dayalan's promise of delivery of medicines and groceries. The time slot was not long enough to cater to Mohali and the residents claimed that they were unable to contact the given mobile numbers, as no one was picking them up.In many cases, shopkeepers simply refused to supply the goods, they added.
Many residents of Kharar took to the social media complaining that the helpline numbers are not reachable or are switched off.
Sandeep Malhotra, a resident of Kharar, told TOI "I called up around two to three chemists shop owners whose numbers were mentioned in the lists given by the administration on their website as I was in a need of some medicines. Sadly, none of them picked up my call and I had to call up one of my friends for help. The administration should pull up their socks during times like this."
One of the chemist shop owners in Phase 10 claimed, "I don't have many people for the delivery of the medicines at everyone's home. The administration has put our name up in the list without even asking us. I have been receiving many calls since morning. And at 3pm, the police asked me to close my shop as a huge number of people gathered here, causing chaos."
Mannat, a resident of Kharar, said "We had to order groceries for our home. The numbers provided by the administration were switched off or they were not picking it up."
In Zirakpur too, the situation was the same, as one the residents, Aditya, said "We have called up the grocery store owner two to three times. Either they are not picking up their phones or they are switched off. It is a sad state of affairs in Zirakpur."
A chemist in Zirakpur claimed "My workers are stuck in Panchkula. I am the only one at my shop. How is the delivery possible?"
The DC had earlier ordered that essential shops will be open from 4pm to 6pm but later had withdrawn that order. Later, the administration came up with a new order in which it is mentioned that the door to door delivery of milk and vegetables will be done from 6am to 9am and that of the groceries as well as the medicines will be from 8am to 11am.
Meanwhile, DC Dayalan said "As there have been certain reports that the phone numbers were not operational, we have taken certain steps. Around 65,000 litres of milk is supplied in the city, but only about 45,000 could be delivered today, as some distributors refused to take orders at the last moment citing fear of payments, banks (esp. cooperative banks) being closed. This issue has been sorted and today orders of 70,000 litres have been placed - over and above the normal supply. Smaller dairies and milkmen have also been issued passes to deliver milk in the morning. We have also sent tankers of the unutilised milk for processing into powdered milk - to ensure continued collection from farmers. We expect all areas to be much better served tomorrow. Mohali city has been divided into areas and pre-packed packets of essential vegetables (potato, onions, tomato, cauliflower etc.) will be taken on carts in different neighbourhoods during the day. They will also take orders for the next day. In other areas, also supply lines have been strengthened. Bigger stores such as Reliance, Big Basket, Bhejo.co, More, 24x7, D-Mart, Best Price, Grofers have been tied up. They will make home deliveries in their local areas from tomorrow. All these shops shall work with their shutters-down. There shall be no in-shop/ walk-in purchases. It is appealed that all may only buy the daily required quantities."