Chaos in Thane: Lockdown announced, then deferred

THANE: The Thane municipal corporation announced and then deferred its plan to enforce a lockdown in the city, and said it will decide on its implementation on Tuesday after a fresh round of talks with stakeholders, including the police.
Even as civic authorities remained undecided over the plan, the city registered its highest Covid deaths in a day on Monday at 15, taking the virus toll to 292. On Monday again, 338 new cases were reported, pushing the tally to 8,506. The recovery rate of patients, too, slid to 49% from 51-53% in the previous week.
Till Sunday evening, TMC and the police were looking at localized lockdowns but they suddenly announced a plan to scale up and cover the entire city for a total of 10 days, starting July 2, after a Monday morning meet. The administration announced it on social media on Monday afternoon, only to revoke it by late evening.
“We will discuss the issue afresh on Tuesday and also consult the state government on its implementation,” said a senior municipal official, requesting anonymity. A police official present at the meeting confirmed it.
The indecisiveness left a majority of the 22 lakh residents confused as they had been frantically looking for options to stock up for locked-in days ahead. While some rushed to local marts, others went online for home deliveries.
A grocer from Naupada said, “I wasn’t aware of the lockdown and didn’t stock up enough essentials to meet the sudden surge in demand.” Shailendra Chikhalkar, a resident of Manpada, said they made online arrangements for essentials and added such last-minute flipflops were a nuisance in times of distress. An elderly resident of Naupada who rushed to the market said, “We may not be able to get essentials to last us a fortnight and so made a dash to book our groceries and alert our milkman.” Kolbad’s Dharmesh Sampat said the authorities are expected to be clear on communication. “I was worried as my elderly parents need frequent medical attention.”
TMC said it will introduce one lakh rapid testing kits. Thane mayor Naresh Mhaske said a lockdown was necessary to control the virus and announced cancellation of the annual monsoon marathon in the wake of the Covid situation.