Over 100 shopkeepers booked for protesting against KDMC's COVID-19 restrictions

A few days ago, Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) had announced that shops within its jurisdiction would remain shut during the weekends amid rising COVID-19 cases. However, the latest closure order has infuriated the shopkeepers and traders.

Hence, a day after the announcement, several shopkeepers and traders in Thane district's Dombivli staged a protest outside the corporation office on Saturday morning, March 27. They even organised a 'rasta roko' campaign and raised slogans against the authorities and demanded a rollback of restrictions imposed in the twin towns against the running of non-essential shops.

An FIR has been registered against over 100 traders and shopkeepers at Ramnagar police station in Dombivli on Wednesday, March 31, for protesting against the civic body’s decision and flouting the pandemic norms. They have been booked under the Disaster Management Act and the IPC.

The twin cities of Kalyan and Dombivli have been recording more than 800 daily positive coronavirus cases for the last few days. This has prompted the civic body to announce the closure of shops on weekends except for those selling essential goods. Hotels and restaurants also have to stick to parcel services during the weekends. In the last two weekends, shops were allowed to remain open on an odd-even basis.

Also Read: KDMC imposes new lockdown guidelines for areas in Kalyan and Dombivli

Besides, if the cases do not come under control the KDMC is planning stricter action. Meanwhile, the civic body has taken measure to contain the spread of the coronavirus, by limiting the number of visitors to the office. In vegetable markets, only 50 per cent of the shops have been permitted to stay open.

A total of 888 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the KDMC limits on Tuesday.  With this, the number of active cases in the twin towns has climbed to 8,427. Dombivli East reported 276 cases while West saw 102 cases. As many as 321 cases came up in Kalyan West, followed by 121 in Kalyan East, 52 in Manda Titwala and 16 in Mohna.