Mumbai Covid-19 unlock: Pressure from traders, industry but BMC sticks to its guns

Despite pressure from commercial establishments the BMC has decided to stick to its guns and play it safe with regard to reopening In a circular issued on Sunday it cited the third Covid19 wave warning for not allowing Level 2 from Monday The civic body kept the update a lowkey affair as opposed to the unlock circulars it had published through official channelsPeople at Marine Drive on Sunday PicAshish RajeIn the circular the civic body underlined the warnings of the Covid task force and of experts on the third wave It also pointed to the population density geography of the city and the large number of people travelling on local trains It had cited similar reasons last week too Only a third point of the IMDrsquos heavy rain warning has been replaced by the third wave warningWhile the rest of the cities in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region MMR mdash Navi Mumbai Thane KalyanDombivli mdash have been allowed to reopen as per Level 2 relaxationsMumbairsquos last weekrsquos test positivity rate is 379 per cent and the oxygen bed occupancy is 235 per cent Technically the city is eligible for Level 1 relaxationsThis will be the third week of unlocking after the second wave In the first week the TPR was above 5 per cent and in the second week the TPR was 420 per centThere were rumours that the corporation may allow some reopenings which are a part of Level 2 as the pressure from commercial establishments and industrial units was building up But the situation of reopening will remain as it is for the third week including not allowing women passengers on local trains which is permitted under Level 3ldquoWe are closely monitoring the situation and if the number of cases goes down further then we can think about some more relaxations in the next week But as of now there are no relaxations for any sectionrdquo said Suresh Kakani additional municipal commissionerBMC workers during testing of arriving passengers at Dadar station last weekWhat is the logicldquoThe BMC has mentioned the warning of the third wave Will a third wave come only in Mumbai and not in neighbouring cities We donrsquot understand the logic behind it as the corporation only gives excuses Last week it was a weather warning and now it is the third waverdquo said Viren Shah president of the Federation of Retail Traders Welfare Association FRTWAIn MMR while Thane and Navi Mumbai have already been in Level 2 KalyanDombivli is to get relaxation from MondayOn the other hand VasaiVirar and Palghar district which were in Level 2 this week will down to Level 3 as the test positivity rate crossed 5 per centShops alone donrsquot spread Covid19Even as the BMC stays firm on not reopening the city further Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday assured the FRTWA that he will speak to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray about it ldquoPeople are going on trips to Lonavala and Pune but Mumbairsquos shops have to stay closed Shops and restaurants are not the ones spreading Covidrdquo Shah saidldquoPawar heard our problems and said he would speak to the CM to provide a remedy If the CM orders BMC will let us operaterdquo Shah saidTarun Jain of Confederation of All India Traders CAIT said ldquoThis is unfair to Mumbaikars All neighbouring cities have got relief from curbsrdquoHowever BMC chief Iqbal Singh Chahal told midday ldquoThere is no scope of further relief in Mumbairdquo Inputs from Rohit Parikh37937Mumbairsquos TPR last week23537Cityrsquos oxygen bed capacity