The Covid-19 situation in Kolhapur continues to be a cause of concern for the state government as it is the only district in Maharashtra with a consistent mortality rate of 3 per cent for over a month.
In the last few days since the shops have been directed to follow advirories, traders have become aggressive. As Traders have been cooperating with the administration by keeping shops closed for the last 81 days, they have plunged into financial stringencies. Therefore, on Monday, various organizations under the leadership of Kolhapur Chamber of Commerce came together to open shops.
Moreover, the number of coronary heart disease patients in Kolhapur is increasing day by day. The positivity rate has reached 16 per cent. The administration has imposed the restrictions as they were before, although on there were advisories that some shops would re-open on Monday.
Nevertheless, the administration ordered that all shops be closed except for essential services and essentials. Most of the traders in Kolhapur opened their shops in the morning in protest against restrictions. This led to heated debates between municipal officials and traders in several places. Later, district police chief Shailesh Balkwade called a meeting of traders. The shops, which opened in the morning after promising to clear the way in two days, were gradually closed by traders in the afternoon. But the traders decided to start shops despite the administration’s restrictions. Accordingly, traders started opening shops in the morning. In some places, municipal officials warned that restrictions were still in place and shops could not be opened. This led to a dispute between traders and municipal officials.
Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, along with state health minister Rajesh Tope, had visited Kolhapur a fortnight ago to review the Covid-19 situation and had urged strict implementation of lockdown norms and Covid-appropriate behaviour in the district.
The Kolhapur administration had been asked to ramp up testing to identify the infected and isolate them.
