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Delhi observes Janta Curfew, city of nearly 20 million comes to a standstill
On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged residents of the country to participate in a “self-imposed” lockdown between 7 am and 9 pm
There is an eeriness about empty streets in broad daylight, especially for an Indian cosmopolitan city such as Delhi – one that hardly stops, hardly sleeps.
On Sunday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging residents of the country to participate in a “self-imposed” lockdown between 7 am and 9 pm, as a prevention against the possible spread of coronavirus, this eeriness spread across the Capital – the deserted roads depicting some sort of a ghost town from a movie set – with occasional semblance of life visible only in and around the major hospitals, bus terminals, railway stations and airport.
For the city, inhabited by nearly 20 million, Sunday started with an unusual chain of events – there were sanitation workers on the roads, and no cacophony of loud engines and horns as motorists stayed out of the roads. For the first time in 18 years, the metro train services were suspended for the entire day and bus services under the city government were halved in terms of operation capacity. Even in the few buses spotted on the deserted roads, hardly any of them had all seats occupied.
The markets remained closed, expect for pharmacies, ration shops and milk booths, and all inter-state buses cancelled.
“We are observing Janta Curfew in full solidarity. All the shops of the markets are closed today and streets are deserted. We had on Friday decided to keep the market shut till Monday from Saturday to fight coronavirus spread. On Monday evening we will again assess the situation, talk to authorities and the decide whether to extend the lockdown of the market for more days or not,” said Ashwani Marwah, general secretary of the traders’ association in Lajpat Nagar – one of the prominent markets in the city.
All trains originating on Sunday were cancelled, which effectively meant that the railway stations would only witness passage of long-distance trains that originated at least a day before and, hence, relatively lower footfall. The airport too witnessed drastically low footfall with most operators suspending domestic operations for the day.
Starting Sunday, the government has also imposed a seven day ban on arrival of any international flight to India. The restriction came in place at 5.30 am Sunday. However, the flights that had already departed for India before 5.30 am on Sunday, will continue to land at the IGI airport, said an official from Delhi airport.
The Delhi airport operator DIAL said in a statement: “We are anticipating higher passenger arrivals between noon and 4pm from various destinations at Delhi airport. This may result in a longer wait time.”
An official from the airport said only by Sunday evening they’ll be able to compile a data of how many International passengers landed in Delhi on the first day of ban.
Though the Delhi Traffic Police is yet to collate the exact reduction in the number of vehicles plying across major arterial roads, senior officials said that there has barely been much traffic movement seen anywhere. The stretches that usually see lakhs of vehicles passing, was almost stranded on Sunday.
“There are only a few vehicles, including public buses, plying today. If someone is seen outside, we are urging them to stay indoors. However, we can get the exact figure of the vehicular movement only by the end of the day,” said joint commissioner of police (traffic), Narendra Singh Bundela.
Hundreds of passengers belonging to other states found themselves stranded at the various bus terminals and railway stations in the National Capital as interstate buses and trains were cancelled to enforce the Janata Curfew on Sunday.
While a few shops at the bus terminals catered to the stranded passengers, several of those stuck at railway stations found themselves without food and water.
Scores of passengers headed to various parts of Delhi too could not find any transport despite willing to shell out extra money. Cabs stood parked at the parking lots of the railway stations, but their drivers remained at home.
At Anand Vihar station, which is usually crowded on any given day, hardly any passenger was visible. A family of five headed from Gorakhpur to Udaipur was the only people found at the waiting area of this railway station. “We were you change train in Delhi, but upon alighting here we were told that all the trains have been cancelled for the day,” said SN Sharma, a private firm employee, as he stared at an uncertain future.
Other passengers at this station were mostly asked to leave the premises as the announcer kept listing out the names of cancelled trains.
Similar scenes were witnessed at Old Delhi Railway station, although some shops outside this station operated with their shutters half open. Among the people stranded outside this station were 22 children aged between nine and 14 and their six guardians. They were returning from a sporting event in Palampur in Himachal Pradesh and destined for different north-east Indian states.
“We were to change train in Delhi, but on alighting here we got to know about the cancellations. The children barely have anything to eat. We don’t know what to do next,” said one of their guardians, Hoshiyaar Singh Thakur.
Scenes were vastly different at the bus terminals, though. While they were much less crowded than usual, the bus terminals had hundreds of anticipating passengers huddled together at the bus terminals, their faces covered either by masks or handkerchiefs.
“We arrived by train from Mangalore as our factory shut down and we had nothing to eat and money to pay rent. We got off a train at Anand Vihar railway station and have been waiting for a bus to Muradabad, but have been told that there would be no buses,” said Iqbal Hussain, a factory worker, as he sat amidst half-a-dozen friends at the Anand Vihar bus terminal.
Outside this terminal, 10 class nine girl students who had returned from Maharashtra by changing several buses because their school shut down due to the virus outbreak, said they were making frantic calls to their parents in Hisar and elsewhere in Haryana to arrange a transport for them. “We are hopeful that buses will begin plying after 9 pm,” said Usha, their teacher accompanying them.
Police personnel were found missing from most of these spots where stranded passengers waited for any transport. But they were seen at the entrance and exit points of these terminals, using barricades to discourage people from arriving there. The barricades, while open enough to allow one vehicle at once, often gave an impression that the road was closed for vehicles.
Neighbourhoods, otherwise buzzing with activity on Sunday, looked completely deserted. Except for essential supplies such as milk and veggies, visitors and other services were not allowed in at most places. In South Delhi’s Vasant Vihar, Greater Kailash andLajpat Nagar, among others, the local RWAs had issued a circular to participate in the curfew urging people not to step out.
B S Vohra, president, East Delhi Federation of RWAs said, that people are happy to comply with the shutdown, but it must be extended further. “A day’s curfew alone won’t be able to contain the transmission as much as a sustained shutdown. The government must extend this to at least a fortnight,” said Vohra.
At Mianwali Nagar in West Delhi, residents stood in outside mother dairy milk booth for nearly 30mins waiting for essential supplies. Purshotam Kalra, resident of the area, said, “There were nearly 100-odd people waiting at the milk booth. But there was no supply of essential items. We all waited for near 30 minutes.”
But for those working with only delivery portals it was work as usual. Rajnesh, 27, a food delivery person said that he has delivered orders. “It is a regular day for me. On an average we get 20 orders per day. Till 1pm, I had delivered five. I’m sure the orders will increase by evening.”
Piyush Sood, a civil defence volunteer, is deployed in East Delhi. He said that he has got 7-8 shops closed since morning. There are close to 120 civil defence volunteers deployed in East Delhi, Sood said. “We are trying to make people understand why it is important to do this. But some people just don’t want understand and have opened shops. We had to request them to close the shops,” said Sood.
