CRPF pickets in Goa, after police fail to contain panic-buying

Panaji, March 29 (IANS) Two battalions of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were deployed in Goa on Sunday, after three days of panic-buying across the state, which forced the police to use force against shoppers crowding outside grocery stores."The CRPF will be given a free hand to enforce the lockdown," Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said, even as 240 personnel of the central paramilitary force were picketed in key populated areas in Goa.Videos of CRPF personnel beating up people on the streets on Sunday and instructing them to undergo corporal punishment like frog-jumping have already gone viral.Over the last two days, the state police had to resort to baton-charging people outside grocery stores in various parts of the state, some of which include Mapusa, Vasco, etc, for panic buying and not resorting to social distancing norms.Most grocery stores in Mapusa town and nearby areas were without stock, forcing local residents of the town as well as nearby areas, to flock to one grocery selling outlet after another in vain, which further fuelled panic.
--IANS maya/pgh/