the goan I network
PANAJI
Goans, barring some rare exceptions, stayed indoors the whole of Sunday in response to the plea of the authorities for a ‘Janata Curfew’ as a drastic measure to fight the onslaught of the COVID-19 and Chief Minister Pramod Sawant appealed for a extension of the voluntary shutdown for the next three days.
Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said the government has decided that people of the State should extend observance of the ‘Janata Curfew’ for three more days.
“It has been extended by three days by the Chief Minister. If it is to be extended further, a decision will be taken by him thereafter,” Rane said.
On Sunday, Goa’s roads, beaches and other public spaces otherwise abuzz, were deserted with people spontaneously co-operating with the plan to observe a nationwide lockdown proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi three days ago.
Meanwhile Sawant in a video message said: “We should not step out of our homes after 9 pm too. Everyone needs to co-operate to take on Coronavirus. Please co-operate with the police. I thank all doctors and medical staff on behalf of the State government.”
Ironically however, several people were seen coming out of their homes in groups around 5 pm, discarding social distancing do’s and don’ts, only to clap and clang metal utensils as a gesture of gratitude to medics and health workers fighting the pandemic in the frontlines.
The gesture of clapping and clanging utensils was suggested by Modi in his televised address to the nation last Thursday announcing the ‘Janata Curfew’ three days thence on Sunday.
But Sunday had cases of overzealous policemen using the stick, literally, on some persons who did venture out. A video in which a scooterist was stopped and brutally whacked with lathis by
policemen in Salcete’s Davorlim village went viral since morning.
South Goa SP, Arvind Gawas, acknowledged the incident and said the concerned policemen were pulled out of duty and sent to the reserve lines. An inquiry was also ordered.
Meanwhile, the decision of the government to propose a continuation of the lockdown or ‘Janata Curfew’ for another three days has caught the public off-guard as many are unprepared with insufficient supplies of essentials stocked in their homes.
There were no specific protocols or arrangements for supply of essentials put in place by the State government or announced by it other than merely saying that it proposes to extend the ‘Janata Curfew’ for another three days.
