Ghaziabad: Anger in Vaishali over sealing, lawyer moves SC

Ghaziabad: The Ghaziabad administration’s decision to seal Vaishali after a recent spurt in Covid cases has caused resentment among residents. Terming the decision arbitrary, the residents have said that the administration’s move has put their jobs and livelihood in jeopardy at a time industries and offices are gradually opening up and attendance at workplace is mandatory.

Vaishali, an urban locality with a population of around 2 lakh, has reported 37 Covid cases so far — a majority of them over the past few days. The district administration imposed the sector scheme in the area and barricaded all entry and exit points for 21 days from May 31, two days after Vaishali reported nine positive cases in a single day. Four of the patients were family members of a man from Sector 5 who had tested positive a few days earlier.

Apart from restricting the movement of residents, the administration has allowed shops to remain open only between 8am and noon every day and denied entry to any vendor in the locality.

Residents have questioned the move — a Supreme Court has moved a public interest litigation in the apex court, accusing the administration of “wrongful confinement”.

The upscale township of Vaishali has several businessmen and officials who need to cross over to Delhi for work daily. However, it is the same reason of cross-border movement that the administration has cited to implement the sector scheme. Pointing to a rise in Covid cases with Delhi links , the administration has also asked residents working in the capital to stay back at their places of work till the time the scheme is in place.

Pradeep Ahuja, a businessman from Sector 5, said the restrictions are causing inconvenience to people even during emergencies.

“We can understand if a lane or a building is sealed after a case has been reported from there. But sealing the entire locality is never justifiable. My office is located in the main market of Sector 4, but I am not able to go there. Even doctors and bank employees are not being allowed to move out. Cops deployed at the entry and exit points are not even ready to make exceptions for emergency cases. Recently, my neighbour had a tough time arguing with the cops to allow his son to be taken to the doctor because he had fever. They insisted on talking to the doctor themselves,” he added.

A group of residents had recently met the district magistrate and sought his intervention to allow the movement of office-goers. “So now, one of the gates is open till 10.30 am to allow people to move out. This rule is applicable only in our area. However, this cannot be a long term solution to stop the spread of the virus,” said Pankaj Anand, a Sector 6 resident who works with a private bank in Delhi’s Kalkaji.

The residents are faced with another problem. As the administration has allowed a four-hour window for shops to remain open, buying of groceries and vegetables has become an arduous task. Some even accused the local grocery shops of charging more in the absence of any alternative for residents. “As there is a restriction on movement of delivery boys, we are totally dependent on local shops, which are charging much more. The time limit is also forcing a large number of people to flock to the shops. Can social distancing be ever maintained in such a situation?” asked Sheetal Bihani, a homemaker from Civitech Florencia in Ramprastha Greens.

Not just residents, a delegation of local traders also met the district magistrate on Wednesday and urged him to allow the opening of shops not associated with sale of essential goods. On Tuesday evening, a few residents held a protest near Media Enclave and demanded the easing of norms.

Anirudh Vasishth, general secretary of the Vaishali Udyog Vyapar Mandal, said, “Our businesses are anyway reeling from the 70 days of lockdown . The DM assured us he would hold a review meeting soon and discuss our demands.”

More than 700 residents of Gateway Towers, a gated society in Sector 4, are also protesting the administration’s decision to seal the entire complex after a single Covid case was reported from there. Mohd Fuzail Khan, the Supreme Court lawyer who moved the PIL, pointed out that UP guidelines required only that particular tower to be sealed from where the case has been reported. “…the administration has barricaded the society with policemen standing at the gates as if residents have committed some offence and the order of the incident commander dated June 6 does not even have an exit plan or any future plan how to deal (with the situation) in the coming days,” read Khan’s petition.

Khan said that though the positive case was reported from the society on May 29, a health department team took six days to inspect the complex and announce its decision to seal it.

Told about the resentment among residents, district magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey said, “The sector scheme would be reviewed soon. The demands of the residents would be looked into.”