COVID-19: Lockdown imposed in 5 parts of Maharashtra's Vasai-Virar

At a time when the process of restarting the economy is underway, a lockdown was imposed in some parts of the Vasai-Virar township near Mumbai.

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Located in the Palghar district, the Vasai-Virar City Municipal Corporation (VVCMC) is one of the fastest-growing urban conglomerates in India.

Five huge stretches in the East side of Vasai, Nalasopara and Virar have come under the scanner due to the of rising number of coronavirus cases.

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"In view of rising cases of novel coronavirus outbreak, five regions of the Vasai-Virar city will be under lockdown. Should the experiment be successful and the cases decline, similar lockdown would be called on other areas where cases are on the rise. The decision is taken considering public safety and security in the city," said Pravin Shetty, mayor, VVCMC.

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The 14-day-lockdown came into force on June 18 - and a strong posse of Palghar police has been deployed to ensure the strict adherence to the lockdown. Only essential services will run - as it did during the initial three-phased lockdown.

Spread over 311 sq km, along the Western Railways of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, it has a population of nearly 20 lakh. In the Palghar district, till Friday, as many as 2,508 positive cases were reported, of which 83 patients have died. Of these VVCMC, accounts for 1,938 cases and 74 deaths.

"People need to cooperate, that is the one and only solution. We are trying to educate the citizens," said Susheel Dwivedi, one of the founders of Evershine City Citizens Welfare Forum.

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A large working population of Mumbai stay in the Vasai tehsil, he said, adding that the safety precautions and SOPs need to be followed.

The Nalasopara town in Vasai-Virar belt seems to be the worst-affected. Nalasopara East's localities like Santosh Bhuwan, Bilalpada, Dhanivbaug, Shriram Nagar, which are home to over five lakh people, are often referred to as Mini Dharavi because of mushrooming slums, narrow bylanes and small industries. Here people use common toilet facilities - and this has compounded the problem like Dharavi.

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