PUNE: The debate over the district having different night curfew timings compared to the rest of Maharashtra till May 1 continued on Thursday with state
BJP chief Chandrakant Patil blaming NCP leader and deputy chief minister
Ajit Pawar for the arrangements.
On Wednesday, the Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad municipal corporations and the district collector’s office released identical orders, retaining the 6pm-7am night curfew timing on weekdays from Monday to Friday, besides the weekend
lockdown from 6pm on Friday to 7am on Monday, till May 1. The rest of Maharashtra is, however, following the 8pm-7am night curfew timing as per the “Break the Chain” order released on April 13 by state chief secretary Sitaram Kunte.
Patil, who represents Kothrud in the Assembly, said Pawar was “treating Pune as his fiefdom” and “unnecessarily separating Pune out of the state with such differential treatment, causing hardships to its citizens”.
He said, “The timing of restrictions in Pune should be increased up to 8pm, like other parts of the state. The restrictions in Pune are not suitable when industries are allowed to function. It becomes difficult for the working people to reach home by 6pm.”
Pawar, who is also the Pune district guardian minister, was not available for his comment on the issue and calls and text messages to him remained unanswered till the time of going to the press. NCP Rajya Sabha member Vandana Chavan, however, told TOI that she did not mind Pune going through a stricter regime because active
Covid-19 cases were high in the district.
“The difference of two hours regarding restrictions is important for us, as we need to control the crowd. The people of Pune should cooperate with the administration, as the restrictions are for only a fortnight. We need to break the chain of infection and bring down the case positive rate by imposing stricter restrictions,” she said.
Senior BJP leader and Pune Girish Bapat told TOI that he had raised the same issue at previous meetings. “Why should there be two different timings? If other districts can follow the 8pm guidelines, Pune should be no exception,” he said.
Pune mayor Murlidhar Mohol said he was not even consulted before the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) decided to retain the earlier timings. “While the local self government bodies can take a call following the state government’s order, the PMC administration did not consult me about continuing with the previous timings,” he said.
His Pimpri Chinchwad counterpart, Usha Dhore, said a separate set of restrictions for Pune were affecting the workers’ movement and she would discuss with the officials concerned on the possiblty to stick to state government’s orders.
Member of Pune Platform for Covid Relief Pradeep Bhargava said the district was “singled out” and the longer hours of restrictions appeared “unfair”. He said, “It is causing inconveniences and disrupting essential work. If I am from a district with a much lower positivity rate and spread, as compared to cities such as Pune and Mumbai, I will seek lesser hours of restrictions. If we go by the intensity of spread and the logic that such restrictions bring down the infecion, then Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur should be in the same league.”
Relief and rehabilitation secretary Aseem Gupta said one could not generalise the situation in any district. “The state government issues the guidelines and the local authorities have to take a call, depending on the situation at their level. They, however, cannot water down the guidelines. People should realise that the situation in Pune is different from any other place. If the local administration wants to bring in more restrictions, we have to allow them,” he added.