In the midst of a partial lockdown announced earlier by the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant which ended on May 3, the police started an all out drive at the SGPDA markets on May 4 in wholesale fish markets, groceries and other establishments in the vicinity of the centre of Fatorda to enforce total lockdown. Police lathi-charged innocent passers-by and scooterists causing utter confusion. The public were unaware of this extended lockdown as nothing was announced on TV nor on dailies. Many businesses got disrupted and their losses ran into crores. There was an instance where a constable was run over by a scooterist who was caught unaware of the constable standing right In his path, while doing his job. The government should tackle the Covid crisis in a sensible manner on all fronts specially with regard to the care of patients, regarding providing vaccines, oxygen, beds, medical & nursing availability to patients. Malpractices such as hoarding of commodities related to Covid treatment should be nipped in the bud. The government should create a centralised bed oxygen cylinder bank with an inventory register maintained to facilitate free flow of medical oxygen.
