Covid-19: Industry, travel, tourism bodies root for lockdown in Goa

Industry captains and travel, tourism industry stakeholders in Goa on Friday rooted for a lockdown in the state, a day after Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that he was "positively thinking" about imposing a lockdown in the wake of the rising tide of Covid-19 infections and a high rate of mortality.

The Travel and Tourism Association of Goa and the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Friday wrote to Sawant urging him to impose the lockdown without delay in order to control the ferocious Covid wave, which has led to the death of 1,501 persons so far. Goa currently has 29,752 active cases.

"From our own experience last year, we know that it was your brave decision of implementing the total lockdown that actually helped us in controlling the virus from spreading. This time around, we have concentrated more on the economic revival and livelihood and rightly so, as an unprecedented number of our citizens have been reduced to poverty due to job and income loss," Travel and Tourism Association of Goa president Nilesh Shah said in a letter to Sawant.

Read: Goa government 'thinking positively' about lockdown: Sawant

"This has resulted in them being robbed of their dignity and self-worth. However, considering the ferocity of the pandemic which was unable to be predicted, the situation calls for an urgent and immediate lockdown," the letter also said.

The body has also echoed a demand made by the Opposition in Goa, to make Covid-19 negative certificates mandatory for those entering the state henceforth.
"It should be made mandatory to have a negative RTPCR certificate to enter the state of Goa," the letter said.

The Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry has also urged Sawant to impose a lockdown for at least 15 days in order to arrest the increasing number of Covid-19 cases.

“The healthcare infrastructure is already on the brink of being overwhelmed, and there is urgent need to take the extreme measure of total lockdown for at least 15 days with a view to arrest the increasing number of positive cases and fatalities and give a much-required breather to revive the healthcare systems and the health workers to rejuvenate and ramp up capacities and capabilities,” president of the Chamber Manoj Caculo said in a communication to Sawant.

The Chief Minister on Thursday had said that his government was "positively thinking" about imposing a lockdown in the state.