“As my father works in the private sector, he will have to face a pay cut for 14 days. We are not getting enough groceries too,” wrote Saurav, a young citizen from Guwahati on G Plus’s Instagram channel.
Apart from Saurav, there were other people who wrote about not being able to get groceries and other essentials delivered to their doorsteps even as they remained confined without being able to step out for the same.
“Not getting food and all nearby shops are closed. All members are getting suffocated at home. We know there is no other option but to remain this way, but the main problem is food,” said Gaurav Sharma.
Within a period of 48 hours, over 40 new areas have been turned into containment zones across Guwahati. With this people are caught between fulfilling responsibilities, need for economic stability and fear of getting infected by the dreaded virus. As it stands at the time of filing this report, over 80 areas across the city have been officially earmarked as active containment zones by the district authorities. Given this situation and to understand the condition of people inside such containment zones, G Plus asked netizens to write the problems being faced by them.
As mentioned by Saurav, things have not been easy for those employed in private sector organizations; people are bound to face pay cuts for a period of 14 days due to their absence from the workplace.
As mentioned by Saurav, things have not been easy for those employed in private sector organizations; people are bound to face pay cuts for a period of 14 days due to their absence from the workplace.
“I live in a containment zone right now and we are facing too many problems. Firstly, the government should sanitize our place and they should probably provide rations to the poor families. Many families in these containment zones are daily wage earners. How will they feed their children? They cannot earn to feed their children during these days,” opined a netizen, Rishab Singh Rajput on Instagram.
“The government must commence rapid testing as soon as possible or else those infected by the virus might end up spreading the disease to others as well,” he added.
People also expressed fears over their area not being sanitized for a period of 2 to 3 days despite the area being declared Containment Zones.
“The boundaries of the Pan Bazar Containment Zone had been extended on Thursday but the government authorities have not put any instructions on the barricade. People are not following any norms of Containment Zone and are going out and coming in as usual,” commented Merazul Haque on Instagram giving a direct instance of gross mismanagement by the administration and the lackadaisical attitude of the people who seem to have turned apathetic to the dreaded virus.
Sanchaita Abhishek, another Instagram user, conveyed his plight through a comment saying, “It has been three days since our By Lane No. 2, Birubari, Udaipur, near Kalimandir was declared a Containment Zone but till now no sanitization has been done. We are deeply concerned about our health. No swab testing has been done till now either.”
Citizens seek help from authorities to put an end to problems which are hindering their sustenance and normal lives due to their area being marked as a Containment Zone and people eagerly wait in anticipation of prompt action from the district administration.
An instance of superficiality on the part of the district administration has cropped up at the Latasil containment zone. While the district administration, in its order, has clearly demarcated the containment zone giving its boundaries, it has, for reasons best known to it, installed a poster declaring an area outside and further south of the defined boundaries as a containment zone as well. Consequently, the household, for no fault of theirs, has become a containment zone and despite multiple requests at the Deputy Commissioner’s office, the authorities have refused to remove the tag.
With all these instances, a certain level of failure or inefficiency on the part of the administration of Kamrup (Metro) cannot be ruled out. Coupled with this is the apathy with which people are treating the whole issue. With more containment zones expected to crop up, it can only be anticipated that the woes of the common people are on the rise with no mitigation of the same in sight.