Syed Ali Ahmed | India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI, APRIL 12—With several streets in Zakir Nagar and one street in Abul Fazal Enclave Part-I of South Delhi, near Jamia Millia Islamia, having been ‘sealed’ owing to discovery of several COVID-19 positive cases, has not only forced the local residents to confine themselves within the four-wall of their houses but also created scare among the residents of other streets that are free from ‘sealing’.
People in Abul Fazal Enclave did not know the meaning of ‘sealing’ in practical sense till Saturday evening when the police put up barricades on either of a street where a COVID-29 positive patient was discovered living in one of the houses after his medical test. Though it has not been described a corona ‘hotspot’ because only one case has been so far here, the action by the police and health department led to a kind of psychological scare among the people.
The street in G-Block, Abul Fazal Enclave Part-I was sealed with such a speed that many residents of the street who h ad gone out to buy essential commodities were left outside and not allowed to come back. And many people who wanted to go out to buy milk and other essentials were strictly told not to venture out, with police keeping strict watch. Many people keen to know what is ‘sealing’ came from other streets to see a ‘sealed street’. But they all kept themselves at large distance as if the air coming from the ‘sealed street’ would infect them with dread coronavirus.
Ever since the G-Block street was ‘sealed’, police have been regularly announcing on microphone asking people not to come out unnecessarily. Personnel of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) are also patrolling the area.
The announcing that the street has been ‘sealed’ completely under SHIELD Scheme of the Delhi government, a policeman said that it was done for the benefit of residents. The police said that all necessary items would be delivered at their door steps by authorised shopkeepers. All the grocery and a medical shop of the streets are also lying closed due to ‘sealing’.
Fruit and vegetable vendors, who used to ferry daily, are keeping away from the streets adjoining to the ‘sealed’ one, not because of the fear of the police but because they want to avoid the dreaded coronavirus. Ever RO water sellers are keeping distance from the ‘sealed’ street. In fact, it has become a ‘ghost’, with everyone avoiding it. What will be condition of the people living in that street psychologically in such a situation when everybody in the area begins maintaining distance from them?
Even the mosque-Char Minar Masjid-in the neighbourhood, one of the most famous landmark of the area, is also closed every since the lockdown. No five-time congregational prayers are being held in any of the mosques in the area, like rest of the mosques in the country, to combat coronavirus. Last Friday was the third Friday in a row when no Friday congregational prayers were dropped in all mosques, a rare thing not noticed in the recorded history of Islam. This is just to avoid community spread of the killer virus. Perhaps, unprecedented preventive measures or what is called ‘social distancing’ in medical jargon adopted by the people on the advice of the government and health authorities that has been responsible for just a few thousand positive cases of COVID-19 and only over 250 deaths in a country with 130 crore population.
The Delhi government has so far declared 30 corona ‘hotspot’ localities in its jurisdiction and ‘sealed’ them to control coronavirus cases.
In congested Old Delhi, 12 localities under Chandni Mahal police station, eight under Darya Ganj, six under Jama Masjid and three localities under Hauz Qazi police station have been sealed.
