Police have closed down all big markets in Howrah’s Malipanchghora, Salkia, Pilkhana and Golabari and set up teams with youths from clubs and puja committees to deliver essential items to residents.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has specifically instructed the district administration to enforce social distancing norms following Howrah’s emergence as a red zone in terms of Covid-19 patients.
“If we fail to control the situation, the infection may spread at the community level and it would be a very serious condition,” she had recently said, while referring to the situation in Calcutta and Howrah. “I would request everyone to stay indoors. If needed, the police can deliver food at your houses.”
Malipanchghora in Howrah is spread over five wards with an approximate population of around 80,000. Pilkhana has close to 45,000 people, almost the same as Salkia and Golabari.
In Malipanchghora and Pilkhana, cops have shut down Horogunge and Pilkhana markets to prevent gathering of people. “Each area has been divided into paras or lanes and for each para or lane a grocery shop, a vegetable vendor and a fish seller have been identified. Their numbers have been passed on to the team members,” an officer in the Howrah commissionerate said.
“Residents place orders on WhatsApp and the team delivers the items. Since there is no overlapping of paras and lanes, shopkeepers and vendors are happy with their fixed customers.”
“We have added medicine shops in every group. An elderly resident was unable to get a particular medicine. He posted it on the group and a team member got it from Belur with the help of the police,” Kusum Bhattacharya, a resident of Aurobinda Road in Malipanchghora, said.
“We have decided that fish sellers will visit between 7am 9am. Vegetable vendors will turn up twice a day, morning and evening,” Samit Kumar Ghosh, a member of Salkia Barowari Club, said. “Grocery shops take orders in the morning. Items are delivered in the evening by our boys.”
The police have found a ready source of information on lockdown violations from the groups. “Wherever there is a violation, someone posts a picture on his/her group, along with the address,” the Howrah commissionerate officer said. “Cops reach the spot in 10 minutes.”