Five markets in Baguiati that had been attracting large crowds every day were shut down on Monday, a Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation official said.

All shopkeepers in the Baguiati market complex along VIP Road, VIP supermarket, AC market, Baguiati Purana bazaar (old market complex) and Chawlpatty bazaar have been asked to keep their shops closed.

Every morning and evening, hundreds had been converging at these markets where everything from vegetables to mobile phone covers are available, the corporation official said. “We had no option but to shut down these markets…. Neither repeated announcements nor measures such as drawing circles for people to wait for their turn in front of shops worked. People did not pay any heed to requests to maintain social distancing norms.”

Pranay Kumar Ray, the mayoral council member in charge of health, said there were close to 700 shops in the four markets.

Earlier this month, Metro had reported about the corporation shifting out 160-odd stalls from their usual spots in the Baguiati market to a nearby fairground to control people who gathered in large numbers in violation of lockdown rules.

Another temporary market in Baguiati’s Jagatpur had been shut down on April 16.

The corporation is looking for grounds to shift some stalls selling grocery, vegetables and fruits for a few days, Ray said.

On Tuesday, a civic team sprayed disinfectants to sanitise Baguiati Main Road and some stretches of VIP Road apart from some shops in the closed markets.

Two separate teams equipped with portable spraying units disinfected the shops. “We will sanitise the markets once more and decide on throwing them open only after we figure out a way to control the crowds and make people follow the social distancing protocol,” Ray said.

Swapan Kumar Mondal, the secretary of the VIP supermarket shopkeepers’ association, said the main entry/exit points to the market had been sealed. Although shops had “No Mask No Goods” signboards, a sizeable chunk of people had been turning up without masks, Mondal said.

“The shutdown will hit finances but we don’t want to take a chance. Once the market reopens we will ask shopkeepers to be more vigilant and not to sell anything to anyone who is without a mask,” he said. “We plan to keep sanitisers and washing facilities near the gates once we are allowed to reopen.”