Covid-19: Haryana government bordering on a dilemma
Should Haryana open up its borders with national capital Delhi or keep the movement restricted and allow only essential services? After the union home ministry came out with the guidelines on a phased exit from the lockdown, there is a strong lobby in the state pushing the regime to continue allowing entry to just essential services on the borders at Gurugram, Faridabad, Jhajjar and Sonepat. There is an equally vocal voice among the policymakers, which favours easing out permissions and allowing travel for work between Delhi and Haryana.
It is expected that UP, too, may continue to bar the entry from Delhi to Noida and Ghaziabad. And Haryana may follow the same, at least for some time. Haryana has its own reasons behind restricted entries. The officials in the state are worried, Delhi has opened up most of the services, despite the daily infection rate not coming down. Till May 31, Delhi reported to 19,995 cases with 473 deaths, out of which more than 1295 tested positive the previous day. The number is increasing every day. Whereas, Haryana has been able to keep the numbers of infected to 2091 with 20 deaths. Out of them, 1023 are active cases. The state’s health minister Anil Vij explained that the state cannot afford another spurt of the infection. He has made it clear that most of the infected cases are found in the NCR, and many of them had a Delhi travel history.
There is an equally big lobby among the state officials who believe that the state now should ease the traffic and allow the employees (Delhi residents) to join their work. Otherwise, Haryana has decided to open up the interstate traffic to other parts of the country, but not to the NCR.
Last week, when the district-wise assessment was done, all districts in the state came in Orange zone —previous red zones Faridabad and Sonepat mellowed down as well. But there is a spurt in the cases again in these cities. It is Hobson’s choice for Haryana it appears: restarting the economy or halting the infection from Delhi. The government, too, understands it can’t continue the restrictions endlessly.
(Courtesy of Mail Today)