Meghalaya’s COVID containment strategies have so far worked well in keeping the stats relatively low by Northeast standards. That the state has kept the surging figures relatively low so far is worth noting. But some of the bizarre response from the administration to incidents of Covid cases defies logic. Shops in Police Bazar were closed ostensibly because people were not wearing masks. Shopkeepers are wearing masks and keeping a placard saying, “No entry without mask.” Shop-owners/shopkeepers are not offenders so why punish them by closing down their establishments? The real reason for closing Police Bazar was to prevent hawkers from setting up shop there and crowding. Most of those hawkers are destitute and their invasion of public places reflects the state of poverty afflicting large sections of Meghalaya’s population. Hawkers need a place to sell their goods and earn their daily living. If the Government has no alternative for them it has no right to prevent them from conducting their trade. Hawkers have now reached a stage of desperation and belligerence both.
The manner in which buildings are being declared containment areas when one case of infection is reported is untenable. Why trouble the whole building occupants? There has to be a cogent explanation for every action, otherwise they are liable to be seen as insensitive knee-jerk reactions. The circumstances leading to this daily not being able to bring out its publication on Sunday is worth a reflection. The Surveillance Officer who came to inspect the place did not even enter the office for a physical check of the arrangements in place. He refused to do so. The question here is what kind of brief does he hold? How then can Officers be trusted to give an objective report? After all, it’s the surveillance report on the ground realities that determine the administrative decisions which in turn impact peoples’ lives.
The Home Ministry missive to withdraw the issuance of permits for entry to Meghalaya clearly does not resonate with the stiff State protocols. The Government cannot curb all citizens’ rights in the name of Covid management and neither can Government micro-manage all protocol observance. Government is performing its duties under the ambit of the Disaster Management Act 2005 where the Central Government has given sweeping powers to the states to curb the pandemic. The powers under this Act are second only to the Emergency. While power under the elbow is justifiable, the tendency to overkill must be checked. Clearly, there is a need for a relook at the way the pandemic is being managed. There have been instances of arbitrariness, if not outright highhandedness. Take the case of The Shillong Times. Twelve hours before the DC’s notification came, the dorbar volunteers were already at the gate of the newspaper office stopping entry of staff and management alike. At that point in time, they had no authority whatsoever to do so. This is transgression. But at Covid times, all these pass off as hard measures. Worse, there is no mechanism in place to keep a tab on the situation at the ground level which affect the commoners the most. Paranoia cannot replace pragmatism. Those at the bottom of the economic pyramid deserve empathy. The last thing any Government should do is to create an authoritarian regime that end up stifling life.
