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Police increased their presence on the roads to ensure that 7.5 million people in the Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad metropolitan area remain inland. Police personnel went to the housing companies asking them to close their doors and keep a record of everyone who entered or left even to buy essential items.
In several areas, shoppers flocked to grocery stores during the two-hour period given for sale. Social distancing naturally took a beating.
Although the curfew was imposed only on the municipal limits, it derailed plans to restart economic activities in the extended areas of Pune. Industries wishing to resume operations had issues with permits and logistical issues.
The sealing of areas and the curfew puzzled several residents, who wondered what the strict action in Pune deserved. Many sought to know whether the official figures on the spread of coronavirus infection in the city were true.
Official figures released ahead of the sealing orders on Sunday showed there were 50 Covid-19 deaths and 669 positive cases in the Pune Metropolitan Region. Only one death was reported in the PMR on Monday night. The number of positive cases rose to 756, with 87 reported on Monday, the largest one-day increase for the region.
Justifying his order in the context of these numbers, Pune City Commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad said: “Thirteen of the 15 neighborhood offices in the city have reported an increase in positive cases in recent days. There is a chance that our surveys will find more cases. ”
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Shravan Hardikar, Gaikwad’s partner in the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, said: “There is a possibility that the infection will spread from the local transfer stage to the community; therefore these restrictions are needed. ”
Similar Pune Division Commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar and Pune Collector Naval Kishore Ram echoed similar thoughts.
However, some questions remained unanswered, such as how the infection could spread if the civic wards reporting cases had been sealed at least a week before the city was declared a containment zone. Furthermore, why Mumbai has not been fully sealed despite the death toll and the cases there are much higher.
When asked about this, Pune’s Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar told TOI that there was a “big difference” between Mumbai and Pune, although both cities are in the “red zone”, areas that they have reported the maximum spread of the virus. “In Mumbai, slums are a major problem, but there are many other factors as well. In Pune, social distancing standards were being circumvented in many areas, particularly in the Peths,” he said.
Pawar further said that Prime Minister Uddhav Thackeray was focusing on Mumbai. “It is his hometown and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has been under his party’s government for the past 25 years. He is investigating what needs to be done in Mumbai. After a detailed discussion with all officials, including health experts, I decided to initiate strict measures for eight days in Pune, “he said.
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Subhash Salunke, technical adviser to the Maharashtra government on infectious diseases, supported Pawar’s argument that the dynamics differ from city to city. He said that while it was possible to achieve a complete closure of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, it would have been unwise to do so in Mumbai.
“In Pune, people did not adhere to social distancing or travel regulations. They used several bylans in the city to travel. This required a complete closure of the city,” he said.
Former Pune City Commissioner T C Benjamin, who also served as additional chief secretary of state (health), told TOI: “The curfew is the need for the hour. Any decision to allow any activity even in non-Covid locations will require more problems. ”
Former chief secretary Mahesh Zagade, who led the PMC during the 2009 swine flu pandemic, said the curfew was the best way to flatten the curve, as it could warrant better surveillance.
The president of the State Indigenous Medical Association, Avinash Bhondwe, also stated that a complete closure was a good strategy. However, he said the measure should be supported by other measures, such as increased testing, free distribution of masks in the community, and doctors receiving appropriate PPE kits. BJP MLA Mahesh Landge also supported the curfew order.
Citizens, however, felt that the rules established to enforce the curfew needed a rethink. Urban planner Aneeta Gokhale-Benninger said: “If they only give themselves two hours to buy essentials, people will crowd into stores even if they don’t want to.”
Social activist Maruti Bhapkar said a limited window to buy food was a bad idea.
Meanwhile, industries complained that no meaningful activity was possible on Monday. “The regulations on resuming work are so strict that it was not possible for any industry to start operating. The order states that employees must be kept in the factory itself, that people must be hired only locally so that they can walk to work and not come by vehicle. These are not practical steps. We understand the situation in Pune. We better restart after the shutdown, “said Dilip Batwal, secretary of the Federation of Chakan Industries.
MCCIA President Pradeep Bhargava said: “The Prime Minister had said that any relaxation after April 20 will be based on the situation in a particular state. Local authorities have more information on Covid than we do and we must respect his decision. ” ”
(With contributions from Satyanarayan Iyer and Siddharth Gaikwad)
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