Residents of Panvel who had earlier advocated for a complete lockdown, to stop the further spread of coronavirus transmission, have now requested to not extend it any further. They are apprehensive that if the lockdown is extended further, it will only worsen the financial condition of the common man, who is struggling to make ends meet.
The Raigad district as well as the Panvel Municipal Corporation (PMC) has declared a 10 days extension of the complete lockdown from July 14 onwards. The PMC had already re-imposed a 10 days lockdown from July 3.
Many residents were of the view that the previous lockdown, which was one of the strictest, but did not yield the desired results. “Any further extension of the lockdown will only deteriorate the financial condition of common people,” said Prakash Kosy, a senior member of citizen’s welfare organization in Panvel. He added that the daily wage labourer or roadside food vendors have not earned a single rupee in the last three months. “Now, even social organisations are not in a condition to provide help to the poor as donations have almost dried up,” said Kosy.
Nilesh Sonawane, president of Panvel Taluka Patrakar Sangharsh Samiti said that the economic movement has come to a standstill. “The Panvel area has the maximum number of middle and lower-middle-class people. Most of them used to earn daily to meet their needs,” said Sonawane. He added that the previous lockdown was implemented without giving enough time to the people. “Even the supply of milk was very limited and people of the Panvel taluka followed the lockdown religiously. But the results of the lockdown were not encouraging enough to extend it further,” said Sonawane.
On the contrary, Airoli MLA Ganesh Naik demanded that the local body should implement a complete lockdown for 20 days. “People should be given five days to procure all essential items for their homes and impose another 20 days lockdown. They should not be even allowed to step out to even buy essentials,” said Naik. However, he added that this should be done by consulting residents for the desired results.
A senior official from PMC said that the decision has been taken to break the chain of coronavirus transmission. "Citizens need some more patience to overcome the current scenario. Soon cases will come down and the market will be reopened," said the official.
Meanwhile, NMMC saw 239 positive cases on Tuesday, taking total 9917. At present, active cases is 3535 with 61% recovery rate.
