Jamshedpur: Even though the number of Covid deaths in East Singhbhum reached 337 and the active cases hovers around the the 1,300-mark, both residents of the district, particularly the
Steel City, and officials are complacent and are increasinglu being seen violating the virus protocols.
Markets are abuzz with people and no policemen were seen on the roads to check the violators. The checkpoints set up various places across the city wore a deserted look for the past 15 days and people now consider wearing a mask or maintaining social distancing as redundant. Besides, hardly anyone is also following the rules of the district administration to stop children below 10 years of age and senior citizens from venturing out of their homes.
Talking to TOI, a couple walking near the new Subarnarekha bridge, said, “Unlock has started and we can lead our daily life as we used to do before the lockdown. There is no need to wear masks and police have stopped checking. Agar marna hai to kaun bacha sakta hai (if one is destined to die, who can stop it).” The couple even reasoned that the Covid death rate is only 2% in the district while the recovery rate is 89.88%.
Notably, the district has the highest mortality rate and the lowest recovery rate in Jharkhand.
However, residents of pockets where the deaths took place, are panic stricken. Elsewhere in the city, eateries have started welcoming customers without following any protocols. One such joint near the Howrah bridge in Sakchi has no sanitizer and none of the staff is wearing masks. The eatery's manager and the staff refused to respond to queries over the matter. Personnel of the PCR van parked near the joint were also mute spectators to the violations.
Concerned citizens are, however, a worried lot. One such person, retired government doctor Anit Banerjee, said, “This carefree attitude will only increase the infections. In this festive season, more people are likely to violate the rules.” She also questioned the complacency of the district administration on the violators.
Sanchita Roy, a homemaker, said people should be more careful in this testing times, but they are bent more on breaking rules.
“Even ministers are not following the rules,” rued Kakoli Mukherjee, a teacher. “On October 2, state health minister Banna Gupta led a mega rally and many were not wearing masks and there were hardly any signs of the marchers following social distancing. Similar scenes were witnessed in meetings of other political parties, including BJP,” she added.
Special officer of the Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee, Krishna Kumar, said: "It is extremely worrying that people are acting in a very careless manner.” He pointed out that the administration is spreading awareness through loudspeakers at all vantage points and it is the duty of the people follow the rules.