Challenging task for the MVA government to placate all stakeholders who want relief in exchange of cooperation with the state
The area around the BMC headquarters and CSMT wore a deserted look during the weekend lockdown on Saturday. Pic/Ashish Raje
We are told Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray did not want an imperfect mix of partial lockdown on weekdays and a total lockdown on weekends while he reluctantly approved of new measures to tackle the rising graph of novel Coronavirus infection in the state. The decision was taken in consultation with important stakeholders and political leaders cutting across party lines. Once imposed, objections were raised against the restrictions, saying that they were like total lockdown in the garb of harsh curbs. Traders, retailers, several other stakeholders took to streets demanding relaxations for their respective sectors.
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Meanwhile, the powers that be who prepared Standard Operating Procedures (SoP) were exposed for committing some grave errors; for example, they allowed transport but did not permit fuel stations and garages. The share market remained open but the broking firms remained shut. The chartered accountants and company secretaries remained shut when the year-end workload stared at them. Bars and permit rooms sold liquor but standalone liquor shops were denied permission. Amid rising protest and demand for relief, CM Thackeray and the COVID Task Force realised that such a ‘shut and open’ policy won’t work. Thackeray told the all-party meeting it was the right time to take a decision, adding that the state cannot impose restrictions and relax them simultaneously. This means total lockdown is certainty, and will get implemented ruthlessly considering an urgent need of breaking the chain of infection.
The CM assured lockdown will not be indefinite, and can be eased in a phased manner after reviewing the COVID-19 caseload. But the assurance alone will not be sufficient to placate various sections of the society and intricate commercial web. The people have already gone through tough times and aren’t prepared to enter the tunnel which may not show light at its end. They want the government to ignite their hopes by offering them financial relief in exchange of putting them under strict lockdown. It is a barter the government may have to accept and come out with some direct benefits like cash transfers, unlike last year’s in which it had given some tax concessions and duty discounts. The state coffers are much lighter, but the government will have to think of raising the money to provide relief to the sections under duress. The Maha Vikas Aghadi government has a plethora of experience, especially in the Nationalist Congress Party and Congress, that can suggest ways and means, other than blaming the Centre, of arresting public unrest and providing relief packages, if any.
For Thackeray, imposing a lockdown is a gambit. Anti-lockdown opinion is becoming stronger. The CM has asked the opponents for an alternative to lockdown, and the lack of direct answer has made his resolve stronger, the result of total lockdown notwithstanding. The primary argument the state-hired experts put forth is that the lockdown will give them invaluable time to create additional COVID care infrastructure. The current situation is very grim because the spread is equally thicker in urban and rural areas, which were spared in the first wave. A crumbled infrastructure is crying for immediate boost to match the caseload which is expected to be beyond imagination in days to come.
What if anti-lockdown opinion prevails and the virus chain doesn’t break in Maharashtra? The answer lies largely in an infrastructure that matches the caseload. Inadequate bed capacity, shortage of oxygen, drugs, ventilators and doctors, delayed testing and reporting, ineffective tracing and most importantly, utter disdain for COVID appropriate protocol, have been impacting the state’s mitigation plan.
It is now emerging that Maharashtra alone isn’t a COVID hotspot. Massive spikes in active cases in our neighbouring states in western/central India and down south have sounded a warning bell. In addition, Uttar Pradesh has been reporting a sudden infection growth. Experts say that the election-bound states of West Bengal, Assam and Kerala will be no exception to the new and advanced COVID phenomenon. Do we need to say that every state mentioned above has a strong connection with Mumbai and Maharashtra in terms of movement for jobs, commerce and tourism? The infection, very different in nature from its first wave, is on its way to becoming a pan-India incident. What happens when it goes national? We hope the mandarins are as concerned as we are.
Dharmendra Jore is political editor, mid-day. He tweets @dharmendrajore, Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com
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