When Covid fear grips business and people in Bengaluru
With the BJP government in Karnataka bungling up the Covid-19 management in Bengaluru, several businesses, especially those in hospitality, F&B, retail, and local eateries are folding up due to mounting losses and lack of patrons. The majority of pubs, fine dining restaurants and upmarket lounges continue to be closed as citizens stay indoors. To make matters worse, the pandemic has enveloped the central business districts such as Shantala Nagar (MG Road and Brigade Road); Chickpete (wholesale business); Malleshwaram and KR Market (markets); Whitefield (IT hub); Jayanagar and Shivajinagar (the commercial centre) and Dharmaraya Swamy temple ward (IT retail and electronics goods).
As contact tracing has failed, the number of Covid-19 positive cases has increased in Bengaluru during the last two weeks. The average number of positive cases every day is nearly 1,000. The total number of positive cases in Bengaluru has crossed 10,000 while the active cases are 8,860. The government is scrambling to beef up the health infrastructure as it has run out of available beds and ICUs. At least three people have died due to unavailability of beds in either government or private hospitals in the city in the last week.
This closure of businesses, which leads to job losses as well as the fear of contracting the virus, is prompting people in Bengaluru to leave the city. Last weekend, an estimated 20,000 people left the city for their villages, causing traffic jams on the Bengaluru-Mumbai highway. Although the government has been requesting people not to leave Bengaluru, the ground reality is different. Most of the people employed in the sectors of IT, real estate, hospitality, restaurants, malls, multiplexes and eateries, have lost their jobs. With the loss of livelihood, the majority of them are not in a position to pay rents. Schools have been shut indefinitely. They do not see any need for staying in Bengaluru until normalcy returns. However, the way the government is handling the situation, Bengaluru is unlikely to return to normalcy any time soon.
(Courtesy of Mail Today)
Also read: Why Bengaluru needs a lockdown urgently