Jalpaiguri district magistrate Abhishek Kumar Tiwary has come up with the concept of “community shopping” under which volunteers will deliver goods to doorsteps in a bid to check overcrowding near shops and stem the spread of the novel coronavirus.

“After the lockdown has been announced, people are swarming shops and markets every day. We have reports that a section of sellers are charging higher prices. Police have been asked to look into the issue and simultaneously, we are planning to introduce the concept of community shopping,” said the DM.

Initially, the administration wants to introduce the community shopping at Jalpaiguri, Malbazar and Dhupguri.

“We need volunteers to implement the concept and hope youths would come forward to cooperate with the administration,” said Tiwary.

Volunteers would be provided with identity cards by the district administration and civic and rural bodies and they will visit households to know requirements. The volunteers will collect the list and cash with names and contact numbers and would make purchases. After the purchases are made, bags and containers will be marked with labels bearing the names of persons who had placed the orders. They would then arrange a vehicle to deliver the items to families.

“This would reduce the crowd at marketplaces and shops and we can keep more and more people at homes, which is the key purpose of the lockdown,” said Tiwary.