Migrant employees rush to Vapi railway station amid 10-day voluntary lockdown

A HUGE rush of migrant employees was seen at Vapi railway station all through Tuesday as a 10-day voluntary lockdown known as by merchants’ associations got here into impact within the Valsad district. The scenes of individuals lugging suitcases, satchels and water bottles, thronging the station premises to board trains for his or her native locations have been harking back to the large-scale migration that had adopted a pan-India lockdown in March final 12 months.
Long queues exterior grocery and dairy shops have been seen throughout the district, with individuals flocking to buy gadgets of every day use even at larger charges. Shops promoting important items have been allowed to function between 8 am and a couple of pm, at the same time as bigger enterprise institutions determined to remain shut for 10 days to interrupt the an infection chain within the district, which added 80 instances Monday taking the overall depend to over 2,200.
On Sunday, District Collector R R Rawal had met representatives of enterprise institutions, chamber of commerce, medical affiliation and Valsad BJP legislator Bharat Patel to deliberate on the coronavirus state of affairs in Valsad and measures that might be adopted to include the virus. Following a dialogue, a proposal to impose a voluntary 10-day lockdown from April 20 was adopted.
As the information of the voluntary lockdown unfold via social media, migrant employees employed within the factories of Vapi Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) and Sarigam GIDC began leaving the town fearing bigger restrictions have been imminent. Many stated they feared the lockdown would possibly spell a lack of livelihood for migrant labourers like final 12 months regardless of the economic models within the GIDC estates remaining operational.
On Tuesday, Vapi Station Master S Ok Dutta informed The Indian Express, “The crowds have swelled over Monday and Tuesday at Vapi rail station. The reason might be that people are afraid of a long-term lockdown. However, the crowd was much less as compared to previous year’s mass exodus.”
Sameer Mapra, the president of Vapi Shopkeepers’ Association, urged individuals to not panic as outlets promoting important gadgets and vegetable markets would stay open until 2 pm each day. “Keeping shops open for a few hours will not only benefit the public, but also the traders and the staff employed in such shops. Apart from this, we will observe a complete lockdown every Saturday and Sunday for 10 days,” Mapra stated.
Meanwhile, district authorities and representatives of assorted enterprise institutions additionally met in Navsari and Dang to duplicate a Valsad-like 10-day voluntary lockdown. While no settlement might be reached in Navsari, a voluntary lockdown will probably be noticed between April 21 and 25 in Dang.
Dang district panchayat president Mangal Gavit stated, “The business bodies have accepted a proposal of voluntary lockdown due to the rising Covid-19 cases. Dairy shops, groceries and general stores will remain open from 8 am to 2 pm. A complete shutdown will be observed in the afternoon. We are not forcing anybody but have only appealed to the business class.”
The assembly in Dang, which has recorded six fatalities and 377 Covid-19 instances thus far, was held in presence of Gavit, district collector N Ok Damor and BJP MLA Vijay Patel.
In Navsari, the proposal for the lockdown was put earlier than the enterprise group representatives and political leaders, nonetheless, following arguments between the shopkeepers’ affiliation and district administrations no resolution might be reached.
Navsari Vejalpore Nagar Palika president Jigish Shah stated, “No decision was taken as we wanted that like Valsad, 10-day voluntary lockdown should be implemented in Navsari. As of now, we are following complete voluntary lockdown on weekends while shops in the towns remain open till late afternoon.”