With the Karnataka government announcing a weeklong lockdown in Bengaluru from July 14 night to July 22 morning owing to a surge in COVID-19 cases, many residents have been leaving the city to their hometowns. While many fear a prolonged and state-wide lockdown, a majority are leaving the city permanently as job losses and high housing rent are forcing them to flee the capital.
On Sunday, Revenue Minister R. Ashok urged the people inclined to go back to their hometowns to leave the city before Tuesday to avoid any inconvenience later. The exodus began on Sunday despite the weekend curfew, and the toll plazas and the highways saw long queues. People fleeing the city on trucks, tempos and luggage autos with their household articles was a common sight on the highways.
Transport Minister Laxman Savadi announced that the state transport corporation would be running an additional 1,600 buses from Bengaluru to different districts on Monday and Tuesday, to cater to the huge rush due to the impending lockdown.
With the sudden surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths in the state, the instances of non-availability of beds and treatment in both the government and the private hospitals have been a major concern for the poor and the middle-class families.
Even as the state government is mulling imposition of a statewide lockdown, experts have warned against spreading the infection in the rural areas. The reverse migration of people to the villages, which lack healthcare infrastructure might lead to a bigger crisis, warns the state taskforce, calling for proper testing and quarantine facilities across the districts.
Meanwhile, even as most offices have chosen to work from home, the manufacturing companies, which were limping back to normal after the first lockdown, are opposing imposition of a second shutdown. The industry bodies warned the government that the lockdown might "paralyse" the morale of the managements and the workforce and have sought exemption for industrial units.
