A near-complete shutdown was observed in the Millennium City on Sunday in response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for ‘janata curfew’ to tackle the spread of COVID-19. The roads wore a deserted look with most of the people staying indoors and shops remaining closed, except pharmacies and a few grocery stores.
In contrast to the routine heavy traffic on the Delhi-Gurugram highway, fewer vehicles could be seen plying on the road all through the day. Similarly, usual weekend hustle-bustle of shoppers and vehicles on Mehrauli-Gurugram Road, with over half-a-dozen shopping malls dotting it on both sides and metro stations, was completely missing.
“Only a few vehicles are seen plying. In most of them, families are travelling,” said a Gurugram police constable manning a barricade under the M.G. Road metro station, along with two fellow police officers.
Deepak, who was manning the front desk at Yes Bank near Cyber Hub, said he had to walk around 5 km from near Jawala Mill to reach the office since autorickshaws were not plying. Shubham, standing at IFFCO Chowk with a huge luggage, said that he had come from Anand Vihar in a bus and was now waiting for an autorickshaw for the past 30 minutes.
The shops, except the pharmacy stores, had the shutters pulled down in all major localities. However, the grocery shops were open in the regularised colonies and urbanised villages away from the eyes of the police. Harish Bakery, a prominent confectionery shop on Old Railway Road was also open. Though it was a call for a “voluntary curfew”, the police had put barricades at several points across the city and were inquiring those who had stepped outside. Also, the police, in a few cases, lacked clarity on whether the confectioneries and grocery stores could remain open during the ‘janata curfew’.
Though the petrol pumps were open, they registered little sale. “Only a dozen cars and around 40 motorcycles have come since morning. The traffic is usually huge on Sundays, but we are playing games on mobile phones to kill time today [on Sunday],” said an attendant at Indian Oil petrol pump opposite the office of Gurugram Police Commissioner.
The railway station was also empty with all trains having been cancelled. Brijender, a railway platform employee, said around 40 trains halted on the station everyday with hundreds of passengers thronging it on Sundays, but only goods trains were allowed on Sunday in view of the ‘Janata Curfew’.
Responding to the Prime Minister’s appeal, people also came to the balconies or stepped out of their homes in large numbers at 5 p.m. to beat thalis , blow conch shells and applaud to appreciate the efforts of those offering services to the masses in the fight against COVID-19.
