If dragging out people for testing and hospitalisation from cluster quarantined areas were not enough, the administration in Gujarat is bracing up with another challenge of ensuring proper lockdown. More than 20 areas, majority of them minority dominated, in various cities of Gujarat have been declared cluster quarantined.
With the scheduled deadline of the lockdown around the corner, coupled with an uncertainty on whether it will be extended or not, unrest is spreading in several parts of Gujarat.
On Friday night, hundreds of migrant workers from Odisha stormed the streets of Surat demanding salaries and means to return to their native places. The workers, who went on a rampage, broke vegetable carts. Several of these unorganised labourers belonging to the textile sector have been arrested.
Just hours before they went berserk, in Juhapura--one of India's largest Muslim ghetto in Ahmedabad--people pelted stones on police when they were trying to enforce lockdown. Two policemen were injured. Stray incidents were reported from other parts of the city as well.
While a number of migrant workers from the neighbouring Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan managed to cross the borders even during the lockdown, a large section from other states such as Odisha, West Bengal and Bihar have not been able to return to their homes.
Notwithstanding the Gujarat government's announcement that they would be given free ration, there has been an unrest among them to go back.
In the Walled City of Ahmedabad, where more than 29 lakh people are under cluster quarantine, the civic body paramedical and medical staff is facing problems in getting the affected people to hospitals. Recently, Ahmedabad Municipal Commissioner Vijay Nehra took to social media, saying that those who have tested positive are refusing to get admitted to a hospital. He went on to ask how much more difficult will some people make it for them to save their lives. He also mentioned that he has ordered the use of force, if required.
The Gujarat government has intensified testing in the cluster quarantined areas where the cases have been on the rise due to Tablighi Jamaat connection. Principal secretary Jayanti Ravi has time and again said the cases could be on the rise as the testing is being done as part of the government strategy to nip COVID-19 in the clustered areas itself.
With 54 new cases being reported in the last 12 hours, the number of cases in Gujarat has gone up to 432. There have been 19 deaths. Jayanti said all the 54 cases have been from the hotspots. Of the 54 cases, 31 are from Ahmedabad and 18 from Vadodara.
As part of the proactive strategy, the Gujarat government has begun testing in districts where not a single COVID-19 positive case has been reported so far. Jayanti said this is to ensure that the government was not missing out on anything. The sampling will be done in these districts on a random basis.
