[TusharK]

The Mumbai Police have issued guidelines stating that vehicles that ply beyond a 2 km radius from their residence without a valid reason will be impounded. The decision has been taken to prevent overcrowding at beaches and other public places as Covid-19 infections are on the rise.



According to the police, movement beyond 2 km is permitted only for attending office or in the case of medical emergencies. Visits to markets and salons have been restricted to within a 2 km radius from the residence.

Besides this, social distancing norms are to be followed and wearing a face mask is compulsory. Also, night curfew is still in place and therefore no movement of persons except for essential activities is allowed between 9 pm and 5 am.

Source

Link to Team-BHP News

[dr.aviansh]

It’s a very smart and practical move, I must say. People everywhere have had enough hearing about covid, taking precautions and a few have developed a cavalier attitude towards life ‘jo hoga dekha jaayega!’ Translating : ‘we’ll see whatever happens!’

This is utter wrong and especially in a country when the lockdown took place at an early stage. The unlock was done ONLY because business started sinking and the lower niché started starving. That doesn’t mean that we are safe and we can roam around now.

My staff nurse got positive today and she has been admitted in a private hospital without having any medical insurance. The poor girl was crying on phone and she was writhing in pain because of the breathlessness she was suffering from. Just an hour ago, her younger sister started complaining about having fever and cough.

My friend, a doctor only, was diagnosed with neuroglioma last month. When he got shifted to Fortis, Noida, he was to spend a few hours in the isolation ward till his COVID report came. And he got positive instead, leading to a postponement of the surgery.

So it’s a humble request, like always, stay inside for yourself and your loved ones and go out only if deemed NECESSARY. Follow a protocol when you enter your home and adhere to it. Avoid shopping or going to salons. Go to hospitals only if required because chances are, you might get infected from there. Prefer online consultation.

[Shreyas_H]

I understand the intent but this rule will possibly put me in a spot!

My wife may be required to go to office once a week starting July. Now she can't drive so we had decided not to go for Ola/Uber and that for now I will drop her and pick her up on the day she needs to attend office. Her office is more than 2 Kms away, so I hope the cops will not seize my car when I'm returning home after I drop her to office

[self_driven]

Useless move. What if someone's RC displays a different place of residence from where he currently resides?

This move will call for unnecessary harassment by the cops and that's pretty much it.

[Hayek]

What a stupid move!! How does people going for drives lead to the spread of Covid? And why should people who live in neighborhoods which lack quality shopping within 2 km be forced to shop at only their local stores? Or people who live in congested areas be prevented from going to greener parts of town for a run? Frankly, our cops and government servants are using Covid as an excuse to impose stupid rules and to bully ordinary citizens. Agree on the need for maintaining social distancing and using masks in public places. But instead of acting against those who violate these rules, our cops want to impose unjustified restrictions on people.

[avdhesh15]

Complete nonsense. My folks live 4km from my house (Andheri to Parle) which means I can't visit them? This is just a way to harass citizens without any strong grounds.

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by Hayek

What a stupid move!! How does people going for drives lead to the spread of Covid?

Exactly

Originally Posted by Hayek

And why should people who live in neighborhoods which lack quality shopping within 2 km be forced to shop at only their local stores?

Exactly

Originally Posted by Hayek

Or people who live in congested areas be prevented from going to greener parts of town for a run?

Exactly.

Originally Posted by avdhesh15

Complete nonsense. My folks live 4km from my house (Andheri to Parle) which means I can't visit them? This is just a way to harass citizens without any strong grounds.

My own uncle is 76 years old and living completely alone about 5 kms away. I have visited him occasionally - I was supposed to take my mum to meet him as well today / tomorrow. What is the issue if we undertake this travel.

Originally Posted by Hayek

Frankly, our cops and government servants are using Covid as an excuse to impose stupid rules and to bully ordinary citizens. Agree on the need for maintaining social distancing and using masks in public places. But instead of acting against those who violate these rules, our cops want to impose unjustified restrictions on people.

They're also clueless on how various measures interplay. They want to open up the economy. Automobile plants have resumed manufacturing but they need dealers to sell the vehicles. Dealers are therefore allowed to be open.

Now if I as a prospective customer visit a showroom 6 kms away for a test drive, is that "non essential" travel.

Fact is at this stage if they have opened up the cities, they should enforce social distancing, masks etc.. Enforce its implementation by commercial establishments.

Honestly on a separate note, a long non stop ride where I am geared up and don't even stop for outside food is safer than most of the clowning around I see by people outside their own localities.

These kind of measures are just resulting in vagueness, harassment and bullying by law enforcers, each of whom has their own perspective on how he's going to save the world.

[anjan_c2007]

They are trying to push through so many guidelines and ultimately the public will fail to recollect or memorise some of these guidelines. If being booked for breaking a certain guideline, he or she may be taken aback owing to ignorance. The 2km guideline is not very practicable it appears prima facie.

Some points to ponder, that may be applicable to some Mumbaikars:-

- I am staying in Colaba, South Mumbai and I get dropped at the airport by a neighbour driving his car. Flight operations have commenced. Am I or my neighbour breaking any guideline ?

- Outdoor movement for the purpose of exercise is strictly restricted to open spaces within a radius of 2 kms from the residence. That means one has to get a Google map printout and mark a 2 km to the scale, circle. He or she has to now select the most suitable open space (if any) within the radius of 2 kms from his residence.

- I am staying in a locality from where the nearest essentials market is 3 kms away. I want my essentials. Will I be breaking any guideline if I go to the 3 kms far market ?

- A newly married lady's driving licence has the address of her paternal house in Bhayander where she stayed prior to her marriage. She is now happily staying with her husband and in-laws in Churchgate. If she is checked at Marine Drive while driving her car, will she be breaking any guideline?

- Long distance (inter-city) driving ban has been lifted. Someone from Thane drives to Pune. He is checked at Panvel for flouting guidelines, if any.

- Lastly about office movement being permitted. Here the police will have to do face reading to establish the genuinity of the person's assertion. All working class people and also some of the "work from home" people have to move to their offices, sometimes far away at some time or the other.

The pandemic infection numbers and the daily increase rates are though quite worrisome for the metropolis. Hopefully, they would be able to enforce more acceptable, pragmatic and logical guidelines to contain it's spread.

[vivek95]

Originally Posted by dr.aviansh

My staff nurse got positive today and she has been admitted in a private hospital without having any medical insurance. The poor girl was crying on phone and she was writhing in pain because of the breathlessness she was suffering from. Just an hour ago, her younger sister started complaining about having fever and cough.

My friend, a doctor only, was diagnosed with neuroglioma last month. When he got shifted to Fortis, Noida, he was to spend a few hours in the isolation ward till his COVID report came. And he got positive instead, leading to a postponement of the surgery.
.

Dr. Avinash, with all due respect to you, I want to say my two cents. I am a frontline physician actively handling covid patients since 4 months in the hotspot of Mumbai. For your one staff nurse who got breathless, I can quote instances of 5 of my ER staff nurses who tested positive, one of whom was even pregnant. 4 of them underwent testing based on my insisting. Guess what, beyond a single spike of mild to moderate fever and sore throat, none had absolutely no symptoms further on for nearly 20 days. All of them are back on their feet and serving patients again. A CVTS surgeon even operated a case before Covid result was out. I am sure you might quote another instance and I will revert and this will never end. But please, I absolutely don't mean any disrespect to you. However the fact remains,the covid scare is already at its peak amongst the general public and let us try to alleviate it and give the correct perspective. I agree we are not safe yet, but at the same time, getting covid
also doesn't mean every individual will turn critical in a few days. I advised my covid positive friend to stay back at home and she did absolutely great, a 20 year old girl with previous cardiac history. The recovery rate is very good as you surely know. More than half of the patients don't even require hospitalisation.

I agree, one should venture out only if necessary but this 2 km rule in Mumbai is absolutely stupid and irrational.

[dr.aviansh]

Originally Posted by vivek95

I agree, one should venture out only if necessary but this 2 km rule in Mumbai is absolutely stupid and irrational.

I understand you don’t mean to disregard anything.

I know that the mortality rate isn’t high with COVID, but my whole point was why take chances, when there is SOME mortality? In Delhi, govt hospitals are not in a good condition. But on the other hand, people are doing small time get togethers and what not. Some restrictions would make them realise sub-consciously that things are not over yet and they should take precautions. Otherwise people will start taking things lightly and eventually start forgetting about masks and sanitisers too.

Some restrictions should persist, provided the govt has distributed movement pass to those who have unavoidable offices etc.

[Praneeth]

This just shows how clueless the bureaucrats are, even at this stage of the pandemic. The number of decisions being taken with sound scientific and medical evidence is next to nil.

I work in a tertiary care hospital which has been converted to a covid-19 treatment centre, about 85-90% of all cases are asymptomatic and maybe 5% have severe symptoms.

The stigma attached with covid is more dangerous than the infection itself. Right now its the individual responsibility to follow social distance norms, wear a mask and avoid unnecessary travel.

The government can't keep a check on the population with these silly rules. Instead they should focus on improving the healthcare infrastructure and educating the broader population regarding safety protocols and implement them strictly in public spaces.

[alikidwhy]

Can’t really expect sensible decisions from the government. They never cared about the poor which showed with the Migrants issue.

I believe this is Natural selection in the eyes of the government, the poor and underprivileged are the first to go, leaving only the top layer of citizens.

All this reopenong of economy was for selfish reasons and our safety and health is in our own hands, the government has let us go.

We are the ones who need to be safe, take precautions to stay safe and not infect ourselves or our loved ones.

This Rule is total garbage. As many Bhpians have pointed out instances and problems above.

[rahul_jo]

I wonder if they have enough parking space to park those impounded cars because they'd see thousands of them.

Sounds like a very impractical law. They don't even have enough resources to manage that.

The very fact is this - You can't make a 100% of the citizens follow social distancing or make them wear a mask. I still see so many folks walking around on the streets without a mask on, walking in larger groups etc.

Heck, I see so many people touching a bunch of things at a grocery store, then using that same hand to adjust their face mask, touching their bare nose a few times. Guess what, if you touched a contaminated surface, then touched your face, your likelihood of getting the virus shoots up.

I see even a larger number taking their masks off, putting it in their pocket and then putting it back on. If your mask was contaminated from the outside and you fold it, put it in your pocket. Guess what? Your chances of getting the virus shoots up significantly again if you put that mask back on.

Avoiding this virus is a game of focusing on tiny little details. We are dealing with the masses who have no idea on how to operate. They can make 100 more such laws, the virus will unfortunately still continue to spread because someone, somewhere is being reckless.

Now the game is all about waiting for the vaccine or some sort of preventive medication.

[INJAXN]

I think its a decision taken in haste, 2 KM is very less distance in a city like Mumbai.

Within 2 KMs one can only get grocery ( might not be from preferred store), medicines and other necessary stuff, so are they saying just get necessary items and be at home.

Moreover, some of the people will have old address or parent's address in their documents, e.g. address of MH-04 , living in MH-02, how are they going to verify that?

[libranof1987]

Makes no sense at all; and will eventually be entirely ineffective.

But. Mumbai is in such bad shape that they'll probably try just about anything now.

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