The city of Calcutta and most of its adjoining districts that have been marked as “containment zones” are beyond the scope of the lockdown exemptions that were being implemented from Monday.
There was practically no change on the ground as Calcutta and its adjoining districts, including North 24-Parganas, Howrah and Hooghly, are in red zones where no exemptions are to be made.
Even the fringe areas that are not part of any red zone did not show any signs of change, mostly because of the reluctance of the private sectors to operate as a mark of precaution against Covid-19.
The IT industry has been allowed to function with 50-per cent staff strength. But the Bidhannagar police — the IT hubs in Salt Lake and Rajarhat fall under it — said they did not receive any request for allowing resumption of operations.
The hubs are in the containment zone.
“If any private company that comes under the exemption wants to start operations, it has to obtain permission from the chief secretary and then approach the police for consent. We did not get any such request till Monday evening,” said an officer of the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate.
The notification issued by the ministry of home affairs mentioning the exemptions stated that from April 20, several private sectors — including the IT hubs and manufacturing units — and self-employed personnel like plumbers, electricians and carpenters will be able to operate following the social distancing norms.
However, in another clause, it stated that the exemptions were applicable only to the places outside the containment zones.
“We were hoping that maids and plumbers will be allowed to resume duty today. But when my plumber tried to come, he was stopped and sent back,” said an elderly resident of Bhowanipore.
Police said a few changes were spotted only at some of the government offices where officers above the rank of deputy secretary were asked to join duty on Monday.
In Calcutta, the number of prosecutions for violating the lockdown jumped from 150 on Sunday to 536 on Monday.
“It appeared that many people had the misconception that exemptions were applicable in Calcutta too,” said an officer.
Several IT personnel who have been working from home for the past month said they did not receive any communication to start working from office on Monday.
The Bantala Leather Complex, despite being in the fringe areas that did not fall in the containment zone, remained non-operational on Monday.
Realtors who have their projects on the fringe areas — both inside and outside the containment zones — said it would not be easy to start operations following all safety guidelines issued by the government even if there was an exemption from the lockdown.
“Most of the real estate developers here do not have in-house labourers as has been prescribed by the home ministry. If we start bringing labourers now, there is no guarantee about their medical and travel history. Even when we bring labourers, we will quarantine them for 14 days for everyone’s safety. But that won’t be possible before the lockdown is over,” said a real estate developer who has his projects in places like Alipore, Madhyamgram, Rajarhat and Santiniketan.