CENTRE TELLS MAHARASHTRA, WEEKEND LOCKDOWNS WON’T WORK

On 4th April 2021, (Sunday) the Maharashtra state government announced a complete lockdown on weekends, whereas night curfews on weekdays. This decision was taken in view of breaking the chain of the 2nd COVID-19 wave in the state. But, just two days before announcing the lockdown (on Friday), a high-level review meeting was held by the cabinet secretary. In this meeting, neither the chief secretory nor the other senior government officials discussed the imposition of weekend lockdown. On March 15, the Union Health Secretary, Rajesh Bhushan had written to the Chief Secretary, Sitaram Kunte, saying that the state’s main aim should be on effective and strict containments, and not on lockdown. Further, Bhushan said, “Weekend lockdowns and night curfews have a very minimal impact on controlling/preventing the virus transmission. So, each district should focus on an effective and strict containment strategy.” Out of total cases reported (on Monday) in India, Maharashtra contributed 55.11% of it, making it the country’s highest single-day rise of 1,03,558 fresh cases. 81.90% of the fresh cases are reported from the states like Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Madya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil-Nadu, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh. The senior officials in the Maharashtra government said that the decision of imposing a weekend lockdown was taken due to disobedience of the citizens related to the COVID-19 protocols. The biggest issue in the state was that the people had become ignorant in following social distancing, wearing masks, and not gathering the crowds. So, all these factors forced us to impose a lockdown. The Centre has also advised the state to create containment zones with clear markings/boundaries and to be stricter in imposing fines on people who are not wearing masks, and gathering crowds. The perimeters of the containment zones should be guarded with more strictness.