If there is one thing the Covid-19 crisis has done is to break the myth of the NCR as one big happy family. For the uninitiated, the NCR comprises Delhi, Noida and Ghaziabad (technically in Uttar Pradesh), as well as Faridabad and Gurugram (in Haryana). Whether it is due to the fact that both Haryana and Uttar Pradesh are ruled by the BJP governments while Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party is ruling Delhi, or for other reasons, we have seen the National Capital Region turn into three distinctive chunks as opposed to one whole. With each suburb imposing a different entry and quarantine guideline, travel between the capital and Noida, Gurugram and Faridabad became a commuters’ nightmare. Largely to blame were the oversized political egos on all sides that traded accusations blaming each other for sending infected cases across the border. In a bizarre game of political maths they were more bothered about keeping their Covid numbers low than they were about the ease of the citizens. Because no matter what the PM may have said, the minute lockdown was lifted most companies, especially auto showrooms, factories, warehouses and other workplaces that require personal interaction, made it mandatory for the workers to be present regardless of directives to encourage as much work from home as possible. But not everyone was given an e-pass to travel if their homes and workplaces were located in two different states.
And so, in the midst of the political ego tussle, was caught the harried commuter. Many had bought into the NCR myth and invested in houses in the suburbs while commuting to Delhi for work, or vice versa. What made things worse was due to the pandemic one could not even impose on a friend or a relative living near their place of work for a room to help out with a place to crash. Even those providing essential services had to apply for separate e-passes for a commute from Noida to Gurugram. Passengers landing at the airport in Gurugram too had to travel through three states to reach their homes in Noida, though in their case the quarantine rules of their destination state applied.
But now Amit Shah has spoken, as has the Supreme Court, and asked for a unified Covid strategy that applies to the NCR as a whole. This rule also applies to Kejriwal’s strategy of keeping the capital’s hospitals for patients who resided in Delhi alone.
Already there is confusion about the multi-layered approach to Covid with each state making its own rules. Yes, India is a sum of its states, and CMs like Capt Amarinder Singh are right when they say that each state should be allowed to define its own red and green zones and make its own Covid strategy. But when it came to issues such as domestic air travel between two states, then this different approach only added to the chaos. Flights were booked and cancelled at the last minute because Assam or Karnataka suddenly did a rethink on its quarantine strategy. Again, caught in the middle of this was the poor traveller, for the airlines refused to refund the money, offering credit instead.
So, now one hopes that at least at the NCR level the confusion will end. For, in the end, the only losers are the poor citizens.