Kolhapur: The Kolhapur Municipal Corporation has initiated odd-even formula for the shops in Laxmipuri market to ensure lesser crowd.The TOI had reported on Thursday about the situation of the social distancing in one of the largest markets of the city for food grains, spices, vegetables and other essentials. The traders there had claimed that the crowd will continue to remain till the end of the lockdown since the supply of the essentials is inadequate.Civic chief Mallinath Kalshetti said, “Some shops will open on odd days and the remaining on even days. We have found on Friday that it led to lesser crowd. The fruits and vegetable vendors have been asked to stay at 20 feet distance from each other. We are adopting different ways to ensure the social distancing is followed.”He added that they had controlled the crowd in suburban localities by decentralizing the markets. We have reduced the vendors from Gangavesh area. The teams have been appointed to take strict action against the violators. “We are ensuring that the citizens get the essentials any time of the day so that they do not make rush to buy the things in the case where the shops were open for few hours of morning. We have asked the shops to keep open from 9am to 5pm,” he said.The civic administration is thinking over the idea of coupon system, which has been adopted by cities like Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad. The citizens are given coupon with the timing during which he or she can move out to buy the essentials. The officials have held the preliminary discussion and are planning to make the shop owners part of its implementation.The administration is considering issuing coupons to citizens that will allow them to move about at given time. Such system is possible in the large residential localities such as Shahupuri and Rajarampuri.“Now we are planning to put restriction of time on the citizens for moving them out for buying things. We are deliberating on it and soon will roll it out. Meanwhile we have started city wide campaign through various means to digital mode to get the essentials at their doorstep. We want people to stay at home for longer time. Moving out has high risk of getting infected by coronavirus,” said Kalshetti.