The food and civil supplies department has been left groping for ideas to maintain uninterrupted supply of essentials as there was hardly any workforce to transport food items from the warehouses to retail outlets following mass exodus of labourers to their native places following the nationwide lockdown announced on Tuesday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Describing the situation as a challenging time for the government as well as for the people of the state, the department only said, “We are trying our level best to work out on a smooth flow of food supply network though there are big issues to resolve.”

After a meeting between the department and wholesalers and suppliers’ organisations on Monday to chalk out modalities during the lockdown, discussions continued till late on Tuesday evening, where chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal took stock of the availability of essential items and asked the department make them readily available to the people. He also asked the transport department to work in coordination to maintain supply.

Sonowal also asked the food department to identify unscrupulous elements who might be creating artificial shortage to take advantage of the situation.

For the department, the biggest worry was engaging labourers for loading and offloading goods and drivers for transporting supplies as most of the labourers and truckers have already left the city, where the stocks are piled.

It was an equally huge task to call the workforce back to work and “we also cannot overrule that they are also citizens”, an official said.

“We are in a position where we cannot ask them to work because it involves people working in close proximity, which is a hazard,” said a senior official.

Barkat Ali, a grocer in Hatigaon here, said: “We have been asked to keep our shops open. But where will we get the commodities when there will be no supply mechanism from the source?”

Prices of food and essential commodities have already skyrocketed in some major towns and cities, including Guwahati, which Mahavir P. Jain of Kamrup Chamber of Commerce, attributed to panic buying and some unscrupulous individuals.

“During the meeting on Monday, in the presence of minister for food and civil supplies (Phani Bhusan Choudhury), we were told the district administrations will be asked to monitor prices and find any offender. We as wholesalers are a responsible business community and have never hiked prices except for valid reasons,” Jain said.

North East Distributors’ Association (NEDA) said it was lending full support to the lockdown and issued a circular among its 2,500 members across the Northeast not to escalate prices, its president Vijay Kumar Gupta told The Telegraph.

“We have prices marked on the packaged food commodities and, therefore, no one can tamper with the prices,” he added.

Gupta also admitted there was mad rush at Fancy Bazar, the commercial hub of the region, on Tuesday, which was apparently owing to panic.

“Under the circumstances, how can we supply goods from our outlets, when we do not have our own employees and labourers to work here? So, we have closed down our shops, until a decision is taken and a thorough modality is worked out,” he added.

The association also requested a smooth coordination between the district administrations, themselves and the multinational companies so that food and supply chain remains active and effective during the crisis.

In case of any untoward scarcity, the food grains supplier associations have also asked the food and civil supplies department to make buffer stock available at all Food Corporation of India godowns in the Northeast.

The associations have also repeatedly moved the departments concerned to ensure the immediate return of the labourers, drivers and helpers by providing them safety and security measures as required for effective supply in the state.

Additional reporting by our special correspondent