There are no restrictions on the sale of newspapers across the city, said the Mumbai police chief amid complaints by vendors of a crackdown in the garb of enforcing the mini-lockdown. The cops have now been directed not to harass the vendors after this newspaper took up their plight with the police commissioner. 

Sellers of newspapers, the most reliable source of news, said they were facing major inconvenience following the imposition of the ‘Break the Chain’ norms in the city to check the spread of COVID-19.  The working president of Brihanmumbai Vruttapatra Vikreta Sangh, Sanjay Chaukekar, told mid-day that cops forced newspaper stalls to shut down at Kandivli East. “A vendor called me at 11am on Tuesday and said the policemen were forcing him to shut down his newspaper stand. The cops refused to listen to anyone, so I told the vendor to shut it down because it was not wise move to oppose cops at the time,” Chaukekar said. “The cops must know that newspaper sale has not been banned by the government. There is no crowding at newspaper stands. The buyers come to our stand, pay, take the paper and leave. We come under essential services and cops should know this,” he added.