The Prime Minister’s address to the nation on Tuesday morning seems to have dashed the hopes of people who were expecting relief from the lockdown. Instances of agitated groups of migrants in Bandra, Mumbai, and for two or three successive days in Surat, wanting to escape from the crowded camps in which they were confined at the start of the lockdown pose a challenge to the authorities.
Patience is running short, but the authorities are required to be sensitive and humane in their handling of the challenging situation. If it takes better facilities, including better food, it will be a small price to pay to contain the contagion.
As it is, Maharashtra is among the worst affected States with a record number of infections and deaths. This could be a reflection of the conditions in which more than half the population of Mumbai lives. Kerala has but only 0.6 per cent of its population in slums. Mumbai alone has over 60 per cent in unsanitary, high-density slums.
The Prime Minister did not fully rule out a gradual relaxation in his 30-minute address, giving hope that after six days they might selectively open up parts of the economy depending on the spread of the Chinese virus.
It cannot be that he and other policy-makers in the States are not acutely aware of the extreme hardships suffered by the people during the nation-wide shutdown.
But, as they say, what cannot be cured must be endured. No better way to contain the spread of the killer virus has been suggested other than to observe social distance. Self-isolation is not a matter of individual choice. It is a collective necessity. It is ironical that the poor migrant workers are far more vulnerable to the virus than their relatively better-off compatriots. Indeed, the restive migrants seen crowding around on Tuesday in Bandra or other such places around the country in a flagrant violation of the isolation norms need to be told how unwelcome they are in their own respective States.
Odisha, for example, has categorically ruled out letting in out-of-state people, whether Odiya or not. They are not allowed to go to their villages. In UP and other States, hundreds of migrants who had left Delhi after the enforcement of the lockdown last month are being held in separate camps and not allowed to meet their families or friends. In other words, the State government needs to use tact and understanding to ensure that the remaining period of the lockdown, too, passes off without anyone creating a law and order problem. Mumbai is the epicenter of the pandemic in Maharashtra — as is Indore for Madhya Pradesh. Coercion and force are poor substitutes for awareness and education.
It does take a toll of human spirit and morale when one’s home transforms into a virtual prison. Address the grievances of the migrants holed up in ill-equipped camps, give them some say in the matter of food. If over-crowded, open some other school or college buildings, but in no case risk the spread of the pandemic further.
India thus far is a shining example having contained the spread and its death toll within reasonable limits, especially given the state of the health system and the squalor and poverty of the urban living spaces. It will be a huge calamity if the gains of the 21-day ~tapasya~ by the people are squandered by groups of unruly and impatient migrants in Mumbai, Surat or elsewhere.
Meanwhile, the authorities have to be on alert against the mischievous elements who, motivated by animus against the government, might goad the migrants to break the law. In the national capital, immediately after the lockdown last month, a group of Opposition leaders had reportedly encouraged people to defy the lockdown and return to their villages. As a result, there was a humanitarian crisis which was eventually contained with the help of the neighbouring State governments.
The Centre also suspended a couple of senior Delhi Government officers for the alleged complicity in instigating the exodus from the city. There should not be a repeat of that situation anywhere in the country.
