Seven out of nine corporations in Mumbai Metropolitan Region will be under 10-day total lockdown

MUMBAI/THANE: The lockdown bandwagon has got bigger with the entire Thane district comprising six municipal corporations and Panvel City Municipal Corporation declaring a 10-day lockdown. Barring the municipal corporations of Mumbai and Vasai-Virar, the entire Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) will shut down.
The lockdown in Navi Mumbai, also part of Thane district, will set in on Friday midnight. The adjoining Panvel Municipal Corporation and neighbouring areas in Panvel and Uran taluka will also go in for a lockdown on Friday.However, the APMC market at Vashi and the Thane Belapur industrial corridor have been exempted from the lockdown. Ulhasnagar civic administration has declared a lockdown from Thursday. A day earlier, Thane and Kalyan-Dombivli had announced a shutdown starting Thursday amid a spike in Covid-19 cases, while the lockdown in Mira-Bhayander started on Wednesday. The Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation has declared a localised lockdown in 18 areas.
Thane collector Rajesh Narvekar said a lockdown in urban areas will not help contain the rising number of Covid cases. Thane city saw 15 Covid deaths on Wednesday, taking the toll to 322, while 363 new cases were added, taking the tally to 9,135 till date. Meanwhile, the case count in Kalyan-Dombivli increased to 6,925 with 350 new cases. With three deaths in the last 24 hours, the toll is 123.
On Wednesday, NMMC areas reported 218 fresh cases, taking the total count to 6, 823, while six deaths saw the toll touch 217.
In Navi Mumbai, all shops selling non-essentials will remain shut. Milk and dairy products will be available between 5 am and 10 am, while other essential shops will be open between 9 am and 5 pm. Chemist shops, petrol pumps and banks will function as usual.
The lockdown in PCMC areas, which reported a record 136 positive cases on Wednesday taking the tally to 2, 277, is from 9 pm Friday till July 13 midnight.
In Ulhasnagar, cases spiralled to 1,982 with 68 fresh cases added on Wednesday. The death toll has shot up to 48. Commissioner Dr Raja Dayanidhi said essential services would be available through home delivery, while dairies would be operational between 5-10am only and chemists would function between 9am and 9pm daily except those with 24-hour permits. Traders in Ulhasnagar did their bit to help fight the pandemic. Deepak Chatlani of the Ulhasnagar Trader’s Association said nearly 70% traders voluntarily downed their shutters on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the fresh lockdown saw residents in Mira-Bhayander, Thane and Kalyan-Dombivli thronging shops to stock up on essentials. With the ‘janata curfew’ in Mira-Bhayander starting 5 pm Wednesday, residents stepped out in the morning to buy groceries and other items. All essential and nonessential shops will be shut till July 10, and home delivery will be the only option.
Small-time shopkeepers and traders who had returned from their native towns when Mission Begin Again kicked off last month were fuming. “I got back from my native town in Rajasthan hoping to make up for lost lockdown months. But we are back to a lockdown,” said Girish Rathod, a grocery shop owner in Navghar, Bhayander (east).
At grocery stores in Thane’s Vasant Vihar, Hiranandani Meadows, Hiranandani Estate and Eden Woods, social distancing went for a toss, though essentials will be made available at shops at a stipulated time.