TURA: A six hour curfew relaxation window provided on Thursday to the citizens of Garo Hills to purchase essential commodities during the ongoing lockdown saw people throw caution to the winds as crowds thronged markets to stock up on milk, rations and medicines breaking the social distancing guidelines aimed at preventing possible spread of infection from the novel corona virus.
The highest number of violations was found to be in Tura town, headquarters of West Garo Hills district, as several thousand people and an equal number of vehicles snaked through the streets- their destination the Tura main market, destroying the very purpose of social distance which was appealed to the citizens of the country by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to prevent the spread of corona virus.
“It was chock-a-block across Tura with people brushing against each other as they jostled for food items pushing their way inside shops. No one was thinking about social distancing and everyone disregarded preventive measures against the virus. It was scary,” recalled several concerned citizens who got caught in the crowd during their shopping at the Tura market.
Shocked by the brazen disregard for social distancing to avoid any possible contamination, the district administration has decided to stop all such relaxations during the ongoing curfew and lock down until further notice.
“We are going to chalk out supply chain strategies and orders will be issued regarding guidelines for distribution of groceries,” informed West Garo Hills deputy commissioner Ram Singh to The Shillong Times on Thursday afternoon, shortly after curfew was re-imposed in the district from 1 O’clock in the afternoon.
The administration is mooting with the idea of providing home delivery of essential food items through volunteers and selected groups in each locality of Tura to avoid a recurrence of what took place on Thursday.
A similar scene, though smaller in number, also occurred in Williamnagar town of East Garo Hills and Baghmara districts too, compelling the district administration to put in place strict guidelines.
“Markets had been shut for the last few days and when relaxation was given today people thought it would be only for one day so there was a rush mainly in Williamnagar town. But we deployed police, volunteers, scouts and guides personnel and got it streamlined,” informed Swapnil Tembe, deputy commissioner of East Garo Hills district.
In North Garo Hills district there was initial crowding in market places such as Resubelpara and Mendipather over fears about shortage of essential commodities.
“At a few places there was some crowding but we rushed our teams and urged people to maintain discipline and social distance. Our administration along with shop keepers had also put in place marked circles or lines to maintain distance from one person to another,” informed deputy commissioner S C Sadhu from Resubelpara.
He said that in Kharkutta area there was a shortage of some essential items but this was replenished by importing from nearby Assam towns of Darranggre and Dudhnoi.
In Baghmara overcrowding prompted authorities to limit movement into the main market and divert traffic towards another open market in the vicinity of Bong Laskar park.
The district administration in South West Garo Hills district has, in the meantime, also decided to decentralize the distribution system of essential commodities, informed deputy commissioner Ram Krishna Chitturi from Ampati.
India’s tally of 606 infections, including 10 deaths, so far, seems tiny in comparison to the huge cases that have happened in China, Italy and Spain, but health experts have warned that the world’s second most populous country faces a tidal wave of infections unless stringent measures are put in place.
The population in India is more densely packed than that of China which further raises the risk of rapid transmission of the COVID-19 novel corona virus.