E-Paper
After bubonic plague, entire Pune, PCMC sealed for first time under 123-year-old Epidemic Act
Administration invokes provisions of the Act in the interest of the residents and to break the chain of the spread of the Sars-Cov-2 virus which causes the Covid-19 disease.
The coronavirus pandemic has forced the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad civic administration to declare the entire region as a containment zone on Sunday midnight. After the bubonic plague of 1897, it is the first time after 123 years that the entire Pune metropolitan region (Pune city, rural and PCMC) has been sealed under the provisions of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, according to historians and civic officials. A curfew, too, has been imposed in the city, starting 2pm on Monday.
Pune municipal commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad on Sunday used the provisions of the 1897 Epidemic Diseases Act to declare the whole city as a containment zone. “I am not sure, but this is the first case wherein the whole city has been sealed using the provisions of the Epidemic Act. Earlier, during swine flu and wars, some provisions of the Act might have been used for only certain sections of the city,” said Gaikwad.
“The administration has invoked provisions of the Act in the interest of the residents and to break the chain of the spread of the Sars-Cov-2 virus which causes the Covid-19 disease,” added Gaikwad.
Raja Dixit, emeritus professor of History department of the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), said, “I have never heard or read about the sealing of the whole city in the past years. We read about the plague in history books and Rand’s assassination, but I am not aware if the entire city was sealed during that time. I was very young when the war against China and Pakistan occurred and during that time we used to hear the sirens blaring at times. But this is historic, the entire city has been sealed.”
Former editor of the newspaper Kesari Arvind Gokhale said, “British plague commissioner WC Rand used the provisions of the Act in 1897. After that, this is the first case wherein the whole city has been sealed. Lokmanya Tilak, who started the Kesari newspaper, supported the British government when the Act was introduced to protect the citizen’s health issues. However, British soldiers misused the provisions of the Act against women, which resulted in the assassination of Rand by the Chapekar Brothers.” The Kesari newspaper was active during the bubonic plague.
In June 1897, the brothers, Damodar Hari Chapekar and Balkrishna Hari Chapekar, assassinated WC Rand, the plague commissioner of Poona [now Pune], and Lieutenant Charles Egerton Ayerst, an officer of the administration. Both the British officers were considered guilty of misusing the Act.
Dr Satish Desai, publisher of the Punyabhushan magazine and former elected member, said, “It is the first time that the Act has been invoked throughout the city as per my knowledge after the plague. In 1962, 1965 and 1972, the government announced black out, but the existing situation is different.”
Former mayor Ankush Kakade said, “This is for the first time that the whole city has been sealed for a long time after the plague. It is in the interest of the citizens. Government has appealed to people to stay at home, but as some residents are not cooperating, the government machineries have no option but to use strict measures.”
Documentation of Covid-19
Municipal commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad said that after the plague, Covid-19 is the first case where every one is affected. I have instructed the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) officials to document every thing as it will remain a historic event for the next generations. “The documentation will have all the details, including the first case to various measures taken by the government and PMC officials,” said Gaikwad.
