Day One of relaxed lockdown: Cops ease up on workers, shut liquor shops after large crowds gather

With people trickling out of their homes on Monday, after over a month of being under a lockdown, the Delhi Police was more lenient in its dealing with the people,

With people trickling out of their homes on Monday, after over a month of being under a lockdown, the Delhi Police was more lenient in its dealing with the people, especially towards plumbers, electricians, domestic helps and others who are part f essential services.

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Senior officers said since most workers do not carry any work ID cards, they were allowed to move about after basic questioning and verification. However, in many areas, liquor stores that opened on Monday had to be closed following large gatherings around them and rampant violations of social distancing guidelines, police said.

A senior police officer said the relaxation of lockdown rules, starting Monday, has eased movement of people, especially self-employed professionals such as plumbers, domestic helps, electricians and water purifier technicians. However, one major challenge that the police faced on Monday was to profile and verify these independent professionals.

“Because most of these people do not carry ID cards and work independently, we are largely profiling them on the basis of what tools they are carrying with them. In some cases, we even call the house where the plumber or electrician is going to, to verify their credentials,” the officer, requesting anonymity, said.

Delhi Police spokesperson MS Randhawa said other than people who are self-employed, all others are requested to carry proper their professional identity cards for which relaxation has been granted and movement passes issued. “All violators will be booked,” he said.

Randhawa also said the validity of the movement passes that the police had issued for essential services till May 3, has been extended till May 17.

While Monday saw increased traffic volumes on Delhi roads, police continued their deployment at pickets.

People were also seen coming out on to main roads. The police said they were continuing with regular patrolling, public announcements and surveillance using drones in crowded areas.

In east Delhi areas such as Krishna Nagar, Jagatpuri, Kondli, Karkardooma, people were seen standing in groups, walking on streets, riding two-wheelers or driving without being stopped by police.

In central Delhi, police said people mainly remained indoors despite the relaxation as markets such as Karol Bagh, Chawri Bazar and in Daryaganj continued to remain closed.

Deputy commissioner of police (central) Sanjay Bhatia said because only a few stand alone shops were allowed to open, there wasn’t much crowd gathering.

“People restricted themselves in our areas. We were conducting regular patrolling not just on main roads but also on internal roads. There was more traffic on road today and adequate staff was deployed to ensure smooth movement,” Bhatia said.

However, opening of liquor shops led to violation of lockdown norms as a large number of people gathered around these outlets, not caring much about the social distancing norms, police said.

“We spotted that people are not following social distancing at liquor shops. They had gathered in large numbers and therefore we had to close these shops. We are conducting an audit to streamline the process of liquor sale in our area so that safety guidelines are not violated,” Bhatia said.

Even in south Delhi, the two liquor shops that had opened had to be closed because of the huge crowd that had gathered around. “Many had come without masks, they had brought bags and packets to hoard liquor bottles and no queue was being maintained. The shop owners therefore decided to shut the shops. Police provided adequate safety and support in normalising the situation,” an officer, wishing not to be named, said.

As the government also allowed movement of migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and others by special trains, deputy commissioner of police (railway) Herendra Kumar Singh said they’re awaiting government directions on facilitating such people.