On the first day after vaccination for 18 to 44 years started across the country, citizens of Kalyan standing in line for hours were left without vaccination creating chaos with the officials. Afterwards, Kalyan-Dombivli municipal corporation officials and police counseled them to control the situation.
However, the Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation authorities appealed to citizens that vaccination will only be allowed after online registration. Instead of directly reaching the vaccination centre and creating chaos, "People aged 18 to 44 years should register online on (Cowin.gov.in) for vaccination and get the slot. They should visit the site and go for KDMC art gallery for 18 to 44 years adding the pin code 421301 and book the slot," said Madhvi Pophale, public relation officer, KDMC.
In January 2021, the vaccination was started in government and private vaccination centres in Kalyan-Dombivli. In the first phase, citizens above the age of 45 years were vaccinated. On May 1, vaccination for citizens from 18 years to 44 years was allowed. With lack of available vaccine, the KDMC had declared vaccination will be only done at Art Gallery, Lal Chowki in Kalyan west. "The municipal corporation had allowed vaccination through online registration. On the first day 200 people registered online following the KDMC protocol. However, only 8 people who registered online reached for the vaccination," said an official from KDMC.
Meanwhile, people who stood in line for the vaccine from 4 am on May 1 started requesting to allow them for vaccination. "When people in the queue requested for vaccination the staff gave them a token to get vaccinated. Later, in the afternoon after standing for hours they were told vaccination will be allowed. It is only for people registered online. The crowd then created chaos blaming the authorities for the confusion among themselves and unnecessary making them stand for 6 to 8 hours," added the official.
A video of the chaos went viral after which discussion among citizens started, as how the KDMC failed on the first day with mismanagement.
During the chaos at the art gallery centre deputy municipal commissioner, Pallavi Bhagwat and Sandeep Nimbalkar were present and controlled the crowd. The police along with the KDMC staff managed to control the crowd that was creating chaos outside the centre.
Madhvi Pophale, the public relation officer of KDMC said, "After a slot is book only the place, date and time is received through message or shown online. Citizens should accordingly reach the centre for vaccination. Without online registration people should not reach the centre and create a crowd. Daily information about the availability of stock in updates online. We appeal to the citizens the vaccination time is from 10am to 5pm and that too for people registered online," added Pophale.
