Maharashtra set for full lockdown

State ministers have demanded a 15-day complete lockdown, with chief minister Uddhav Thackeray expected to announce the lockdown on Wednesday.

Maharashtra is set to go under a complete lockdown from Wednesday evening as the strict restrictions imposed last week have not seen “desired results”. State ministers have demanded a 15-day complete lockdown, with chief minister Uddhav Thackeray expected to announce the lockdown on Wednesday.

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Ministers said guidelines for the lockdown are being chalked out, which are likely to include stricter enforcement of Covid-19 rules, sealing of inter-district borders and more curbs on public transport.

Last week, Maharashtra had announced strict restrictions, including imposition of a curfew under Section 144 of the CrPC, allowing only essential services to function and allowing movement of the workforce in essential services. But the restrictions did not help contain the spread of Covid-19 in the state.

Even though Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address to the nation on Tuesday, said a “lockdown should be the last resort for states”, the Maharashtra government seems to have decided to go ahead with the lockdown.

In the past seven days, since the state-imposed curfew and strict restrictions, Maharashtra added 323,199 infections and 2,539 deaths. The state health department has projected that there would be a shortage of beds in nearly all districts by May 2.

The shortage of beds coupled with its surging demand and a shortage of oxygen has prompted the state to move towards a complete lockdown.

Maharashtra ministers, in a state cabinet meeting on Tuesday, had demanded a strict lockdown to break the chain of transmission. State health minister Rajesh Tope said there was no other alternative, but to impose a lockdown as the ballooning tally of active cases has been putting a severe strain on health infrastructure, including a shortage of oxygen and anti-viral drug Remdesivir.

“There is no alternative, but to go for a strict lockdown. We have requested the CM to announce a complete lockdown from today at 8pm. The cabinet has taken a decision about the complete lockdown. CM will make a final announcement,” said Tope.

Tope, who was speaking after the cabinet meeting in Mumbai, further added that so far the state hadn’t used the term “lockdown” in its restriction, but now they want to break the chain of transmission through a strict lockdown. “We have not used ‘lockdown’, but now we want to truly break the chain of transmission through a strict lockdown.”

Senior government officials said the guidelines are being drafted, but restrictions in timing of shops selling essential items, which was issued on Tuesday, will continue. Besides that, they are also planning to shut district borders to curb the movement between districts. Currently, there is no restriction on interdistrict travel. Similarly, they are also planning to reduce attendance of staffers in government offices.

Another possible restriction that is being deliberated, include restriction on public transport. Officials said there were suggestions, regarding shutting down public transport for general public from some ministers, but it may not be feasible as many people step out for medical emergencies and even vaccination and rely on the use of public transport.

“Among the restrictions being considered include sealing of district borders. Unless there is any medical emergency, inter-district wouldn’t be permitted. There were demands of shutting public transport by the ministers, but public transport could remain operational, but only for medical emergency, healthcare workers and for vaccination. So far, no final decision has been made,” an official said, requesting anonymity.

Tope added that the state will study what restrictions can be put for use of public transport in the state during the lockdown. “The issue of mass transport modes is such that if we shut it then the workforce in the essential services will be inconvenienced. We will study it minutely and will take a decision by tomorrow,” he said.

Unlike the period of strict restrictions that commenced last Wednesday, the complete lockdown will see stricter enforcement of rules. “The police were not asked to crack down on people’s movement. Many people flouted by claiming to have stepped out for groceries and medicines. In the lockdown, the enforcement will be much stricter,” the official added.

Mumbai guardian minister Aslam Shaikh said despite imposing strict restrictions, the number of cases did not go down. “There is shortage of oxygen and hospital beds, therefore after much deliberation, Maharashtra will go under full lockdown,” said Shaikh. He added, “We went on increasing the curbs on people, from night curfew to weekend curfew to the existing curfew, but people are moving about. The cases are increased, there will be more shortage of oxygen in the coming days.”

Elaborating on the kind of restrictions expected on use of public transport, Shaikh said, “Last time when the lockdown was announced [by the Centre], it was done haphazardly. Since then, whatever restrictions have been put by Maharashtra government is done after careful deliberation. [So far] we have not shut the buses or trains, in the coming days, too, it will continue to run so that people are not inconvenienced.”

State urban development minister Eknath Shinde said Thackeray is expected to announce the lockdown, which will come into force from Wednesday evening. “The situation is getting worrisome in the state. We requested the chief minister to put in severe lockdown to break the chain of transmission. Chief minister will announce it,” he said.

Earlier in the day, the state government issued a new order, restricting the timings of essential shops such as grocery, vegetable and fruit vendors, dairies, bakeries and all type of food shops with others to four hours from 7am to 11am across the state till May 1. However, the government has allowed home delivery from these shops between 7am to 8pm.

The decision was prompted as ministers and authorities felt that people were not following the restrictions on movement thoroughly.

The order issued by chief secretary Sitaram Kunte said, “All groceries, vegetable shops, fruit vendors, dairies, bakeries, confectionaries, all type of food shops (including chicken, mutton, poultry, fish and eggs), shops related to agricultural implements and farm produce, pet food shops, shops related to materials for impending rainy season for individuals as well as for organisations to be open only between 7am to 11am.”

The restriction on timings for the shop was criticised by retailer’s association in Mumbai. Viren Shah, president of the federation of retail trader’s welfare association, said, “This decision will create more chaos and will get crowded during morning hours. It will be difficult to control crowd for local authorities. Now another hurdle is how will the grocery shops provide home delivery after 11am when the shops will be closed? This means that local authorities will have to cooperate with the kirana stores to keep shops close for customer, but allow shops to provide home delivery from the stores.”