At a time when some states are witnessing an alarming rise in the number of Covid-19 cases reported daily, complacency towards basic guidelines to prevent the spread of Covid is on the rise especially in public places of the provisional state capital Dehradun. While some people are still wearing masks in public, many are either not wearing them properly or not carrying them at all.
A pharmacy student, Suchita Pandey opined, “The people have even stopped believing in facts as now they think the situation is not as alarming as stated. They think that hospitals are faking numbers to make more money which is wrong as we are the ones who are seeing the reality and know how dangerous this situation can be.”
A shopper at Paltan Bazaar, Dinesh Singh said, “Now people are used to being outside and feel free. It is now harder to convince the general public that we still need to be careful. Many people don’t seem to care about the Covid guidelines anymore. Social distancing and sanitizers are rarely found.”
The owner of a shop in Paltan Bazaar, Rajkumar said, “We are following the Covid guidelines we have sanitizers in our shop, every worker wears a face mask but yes sometimes it’s hard to maintain social distancing among customers as we can’t stop them from coming so, we try to make sure that they are wearing face masks and are using hand sanitizer properly.”
Doon Udyog Vyapar Mandal member Sunil Masson said, “We have told shopkeepers to adhere to the Covid guidelines. We can only guide them but to penalise those who are not following the rules is the work of the government. They need to be stricter towards this as the Covid numbers are rising in some regions and we need to be more alert as responsible citizens.”
Dehradun city magistrate Kusum Chauhan said that the local police are working towards spreading awareness among the public and those who are breaking the rules are also being penalised. “We are making sure that the Covid guidelines are followed properly and no carelessness will be accepted,” she stressed.
Thursday, 18 March 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
