TC Bureau Chandigarh: Seventeen days after the UT administration imposed a lockdown to contain the spread of novel coronavirus disease, the police have still not been able to implement the curfew in the city’s peripheral areas. Slums and villages that dot the outskirts of Chandigarh seem oblivious to the dangers posed by the disease. Even norms mandated by the administration have gone for a toss as people stroll around in groups without a care.
When this correspondent visited several slums and colonies in Chandigarh on Thursday, she found people huddled in groups outside their houses and crowds gathering for the meals being distributed by Chandigarh administration.
Giving two hoots about social distancing, people had opened ration shops customers were buying goods as on any other day. Several vehicles moved through the narrow streets despite the ban on vehicular movement in the UT. Children could be seen loitering the streets as the elderly lounged in the sunlight or had gathered to play cards.
Not once did this correspondent find the policemen deployed on the spot, stopping commuters to check curfew passes in the villages and in sectors such as 38 and 15.
A police constable who had been deployed in a peripheral area of Chandigarh said he was totally unaware of the ground plan of the locality he was assigned to. “It is a huge challenge as many of us don’t even know the streets of the colony we are to keep a check on. We are few in number while the population is huge. We need more manpower for strict implementation of the curfew.”
30-year-old Ravi in Kacchi Colony, Dhanas, was sitting outside his home, soaking in the sunlight. When asked if he knew he must stay inside the house, he said, “What can we do, we are bored sitting at home all day. Our houses are already overcrowded. I just came out to soak in the sun.”
Dalip Sharma, a councillor from Bapu Dham Colony, said, “Many policemen are deployed here but the population is huge. Here, each house is about 22 x 10 sq feet and has 6-8 members each. Before the lockdown, people used to go for work. But now, without work they are roaming about aimlessly.”
When this correspondent spoke to a PR officer with the UT police, he refused to acknowledge there was any breach of the curfew. “The whole of Chandigarh is following lockdown norms. People are stepping out to buy only essential goods that too, during the time specified by UT administration, in colonies as well as in sectors,” he said.
