Mumbaikars urge Maharashtra government to find COVID-19 solution quickly, say ‘lockdown is not helping’

Prarthana Samaj junction at Girgaon. Photo: Bipin Kokate

The city is currently experiencing its first weekend lockdown after the Maharashtra government released the new guidelines on April 4 due to the recent surge in Covid-19 cases. A little more than a year after Covid-19 pandemic affected the country, this is the first lockdown the state has witnessed in 2021. As the city battles with a vaccine shortage, the need for Covid-19 testing and the lockdown guidelines, citizens are only allowed to set out only for emergencies, even as they fear being caught in the crosshairs of policemen. People who step out without a need for essential services will be booked and will have to pay a fine of Rs 1,000 - 2,000.

Setting out to take his wife to the hospital for a doctor's appointment, Virar-based Gajanand Yadav has had a tough morning. "I was stopped by the policemen when I was going to the doctor, it is only after I showed them the papers, was I let go," he says. Yadav, who is an office-goer, adds, "The weekend lockdown isn't really helpful because if people can go out on weekdays, it does not make a difference on the weekend. In fact, it is affecting the common man a lot. Yes, if the government puts out a complete lockdown for 10 days, it makes more sense than for two days now."

Western Express Highway checkpost. Photo: Satej Shinde

It is not different for Sakshi Singh, another Mumbaikar who stepped out to buy medicines earlier today. The lockdown has led her to be out of job temporarily, as she works in a beauty parlour. She says, "I do not think this lockdown will help reduce the number of cases as a lot of people are finding some excuse to get out. People do have to get out for some reason or the other, so it is better they go out freely but while taking precautions. The Virar resident adds that the only way to beat this that everybody should wear their masks and sanitise their hands regularly.

Vegetable vendors claim the situation is worse for them. Virar-based Nafees Shaikh is going through troubling times, as he has to not only feed his family but also take care of his old father. His father had to undergo a knee operation recently, for which he had to take a loan of 4 lakhs after selling one room. Shaikh says, "I do not have any money as of now, and I have been sitting since the morning hoping that somebody buys something from me so that I can go home and feed my family. You can check my pockets, there is nothing in them right now." He adds that even if the vendors sit in the evenings, they are being sent away by officials, and nobody wants to give them a job because of the current situation.

Roadside shops in Null Bazar in South Mumbai remain shut on the first day of the weekend lockdown in Mumbai. Photo: Bipin Kokate

Shaikh pleads that if there is a lockdown like this, the government should at least arrange for ration and then vegetable vendors like him can sit at home and take care of his family. Apart from feeding his family, he has to spend Rs 1,000 every week for medicines for his father. "Last year, we used to get khichdi from Jivdani Devi Temple, but even that isn't coming anymore, so life is become really difficult for us."

However, Dr Champat B Jain, a consulting homeopathy doctor in Goregaon West is hopeful with the government imposing the blanket lockdown on weekends. "This weekend lockdown will definitely be helpful to break the chain as people will be inside their houses and it will help to not spread the virus."

Like Jain, Goregaon-based Kamlesh Kumar, who works as a security personnel hasn't had an issue yet because he works nearby. He believes that the government is taking the right measures and it will hopefully yield results soon. "I haven't been stopped by anybody yet but I believe that the government is taking steps for the good of the people and has only done it because of the Covid-19 surge. Now, that the vaccine is also being given to people, they are working towards controlling it and I am hopeful about it.

(Inputs from Raj Patil and Manjeet Thakur)