The Borivali west market to the east side, from one end of the Railway Bridge to another end of the railway bridge markets are overpopulated breaking the COVID-19 norms.
Dadar’s flower and vegetable market were seen overpopulated, violating the norms of social distancing likewise. Hundreds of people gathered early in the morning in the main vegetable market of Navi Mumbai.
Several people in the crowd were seen without face masks and some were hanging their masks at chin and neck. Vegetable vendors continued to sell their fresh produce by the roadside disregarding COVID norms and buyers too congregated near them to purchase vegetables.
BMC official said, “People need to take their responsibility as CM Uddhav ran a campaign called “Mi Javabdar” (I am responsible). People are fed up with restrictions and the fear of COVID has gone from their minds.”
Vegetable vendor Surekha Kapase said, “People gather in political rallies in thousands of numbers. Why does no one object to that? The same politicians who implement rules forget the fact that they should not invite crowds. But when people come to market to shop for their daily needs, we object that, how fair is this?”
Mumbai on Thursday reported 8,938 new cases of coronavirus, taking the city’s caseload to 4,91,698. As many as 23 people succumbed to the infection and with that, the death toll surged to 11,874. The city also has over 86,000 active cases at present.
The Maharashtra government had recently said that the state is running out of oxygen and Remdesivir – a drug being used to treat COVID patients – as cases continue to swell even after repeated warnings. But people of Mumbai are not much panicked with rising cases and they are not only risking their own lives but the lives of other people.
In a bid to contain the spread of the virus, the state government as well as the city’s civic body Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has issued a slew of restrictions to be followed till April 30. Movement of not more than five persons is allowed in the city from 7 am to 8 pm on weekdays. From 8 pm to 7 am, a strict night curfew has been put into effect, besides the complete lockdown on weekends.
Areas like Worli sea face, Bandra bandstand and joggers park too are overstuffed with health-conscious people but hardly any social distancing norms being followed.
When we asked a police constable on duty, why no strict implementations of rules, he said, “Police are chasing people, there are law and order. BMC has assigned martial to fine people if they don’t wear masks. But educated people should also cooperate with the government and state by following the norms.”
