After Bakrid relaxations, Onam's pressure on Kerala govt to ease Covid restrictions

Close on the heels of criticisms against the Kerala government over the three days of relaxations in lockdown for the Bakrid festival, the state government is again coming under pressure for relaxations in lockdown as the Onam festival is approaching.

Already prominent traders' outfits in Kerala have made a call for opening all shops on all days from August 9 citing that traders are under severe financial and mental stress owing to the prolonging lockdown. The Onam festival is in the third and fourth weeks of August.

The 'Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithi' leaders said that though they had earlier decided to open all shops on all days defying the restrictions like alternate working days for non-essential commodities shops, they kept off from the move following favourable assurance from Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. However, as the restrictions were still continuing the traders were forced to defy it as the livelihood of traders were badly affected. Many already ended life by suicide and many were on the verge of taking extreme steps, the forum leaders said.

The Kerala government is caught up in a tight spot as there is no relief in the Covid situation of the state as the TPR is still above ten per cent. In the last two days, the number of fresh cases also witnessed a steep increase of over 20,000 as the number of daily tests were increased. If it was 22,129 fresh cases on Tuesday with TPR at 12.35 per cent, on Wednesday it was 22,056 fresh cases with TPR at 11.2 per cent.

Kerala, which initially received much appreciation for Covid management, is now facing criticism from various quarters. The Centre also alerted the state to take stringent measures to contain Covid. The centre is also planning to send another team to review the situations in the state, said sources.

With North Kerala districts of Malappuram and Kozhikode having a high number of fresh Covid cases over the last several days, there were criticisms that the state was paying the price for giving relaxations in lockdown from three days in view of Bakrid. Social distancing norms were widely flouted in the state following the three-day relaxation from July 18 to 20.

The opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front in Kerala had also raised concerns over the prolonging lockdown norms in Kerala. Even experts had been flaying that restrictions like limited working hours for shops and weekend lockdown were unscientific.