As the 21-day nationwide lockdown entered its fifth day, the town witnessed huge chaos and commotion on Monday with unusually high volume of traffic on the road and serpentine queues outside grocery stores as panicked residents thronged market places to shore up stock of essential commodities at homes.
This followed after the Dimapur district administration had allowed shops selling essential commodities to remain open from 8 am to 2 pm to cater to the needs of the residents. However, even after the order and assurance from authorities that sufficient food stocks were available, residents rushed to markets to stock essential items, leading to long queues outside grocery stores and traffic jams on the roads, everyone breaching the code of social distancing.
Although the police had blocked the roads, jittery residents, crowded the streets and prominent junctions like the Holy Cross junction, Dhobinala and New Market areas were packed with frenzied crowds.
Some of the stores were so crowded that entries had to be temporarily halted. People gobbled down food in the stores itself without buying it, while some entered in heated exchange outside over parking spots and shoving one another inside the stores for whatever they could get their hands on.
Many frustrated traffic and police personnel on duty were seen struggling to maintain traffic congestion and people on the road.
Meanwhile, when contacted over the commotion, deputy commissioner Dimapur Anoop Khinchi told Nagaland Post over telephone that due to rumours that went viral that the shops would remain open only for two hours, people started panicking and thronged the markets, leading to the chaos. He claimed that the situation was brought under control after two to three hours. Kinchi mentioned that the police, along with district administration officials, brought the situation under control.
DNSU concerned
Dimapur Naga Students’ Union (DNSU) expressed its displeasure at the huge public gatherings witnessed here on Monday for buying essential commodities without maintaining social distancing as per the directive of the State government.
In a release by its media cell, the union said it was utterly surprised to witness free flow of public without maintaining proper social distancing of one metre and questioned who was responsible for it, the public or the government.
DNSU also asked principal secretary and home commissioner Abhijit Sinha whether he had consulted the stakeholders or just issued order for relaxation during the lockdown, thereby making it difficult even for government officials to implement the order as Dimapur was a big area with one of the highest population in Nagaland.
DNSU said due to initiatives of village/colony councils and youth organisations, volunteers were at the forefront at the initial stage of lockdown and strictly monitored public movement along with the administration, police and medical department, but pointed out that right after the government had barred organisations from implementing the lockdown, the outcome was evident on Monday.
While appreciating the declaration of the State government to make the entire COVID-19 testing and treatment free and the various initiatives undertaken, the union urged the government to have more practical remedies in dealing with this pandemic before it spread far and wide.
DNSU also requested the government to continue carrying out its measures against the pandemic in a more practical manner and convene another round of meeting with stakeholders for a better outcome. It also appealed to Dimapur Municipal Council to sanitise market areas at least once a day, while requesting the general public to stay home and take the COVID-19 pandemic seriously.