E-Paper
Life in a sealed area under Pimpri-Chinchwad: “I don’t want Italy, US-like situation in our city”
Late on Thursday night, the Pimpri-Chinchwad police sealed an entire locality under the Wakad Police Station with a population of about 3,000. This was after two persons who had returned from the Tablighi Jamaat at Nizamuddin, New Delhi, had tested positive for the Sars-Cov-2 virus.
Late on Thursday night, the Pimpri-Chinchwad police sealed an entire locality under the Wakad Police Station with a population of about 3,000. This was after two persons who had returned from the Tablighi Jamaat at Nizamuddin, New Delhi, had tested positive for the Sars-Cov-2 virus. This locality is highly congested and most people have been living here in self-constructed, one, two or three storey houses, from the last two-and-a-half decades.
People living here are workers, petty businessmen, fruits and vegetables vendors. Here’s are first-person accounts from people in the area on how life has changed for them after the area was sealed.
‘I don’t want Italy, US-like situation in our city’
A 58-year-old resident shared his experience: I can’t imagine that the two Covid-19 positive cases were reported from just 100 ft distance of my home. We on our own rigorously followed the lockdown and after this area was sealed, the police were deployed outside our houses. We stopped going outside our house to purchase essentials such as grocery, milk and vegetables.
We are adjusting with whatever is available at home without making any fuss. After all, life is precious.
I have been living here since the last 20 years. I have three sons, wife and a five-year-old granddaughter. We all spend time engaging ourselves in household work, watching television and taking as much rest as possible.
I am worried about my granddaughter. I can go out and buy milk from just about 50 ft distance; but I’m avoiding even that. We are allowed to step out to take milk and vegetables between 6 am and 10 am only. I, however, decided that no one will step outside the house in the present conditions.
I don’t want a Italy or a US-like situation in our city. I told my family members, ‘Be like a soldier’ in this situation. A soldier can live under any circumstances and survive. My earnest request to all is, don’t go outside.
A 45-year-old homemaker’s view
The situation became serious in the last two days. The Covid-19 positive cases were reported just 200 ft from my house. The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation’s health staff keeps knocking on our doors daily to check whether anyone in our family has symptoms of fever, cough and cold.
I showed my medical prescription to police to purchase medicines. The medical store is just 100 metres away. Barring the medical store, everything is shut down here.
I make various types of sprouts, soaked chickpeas and prepared idli-dosa batter in the refrigerator. As we have children at home, the demand for food is high. For the last two days, no vegetable vendor was allowed in the area. I am very scared to go outside. I keep watching television news and read newspapers.
