Mumbai, April 8 As the 13th person reported Covid-19 positive in the past five days from Dharavi in central Mumbai on Wednesday, state and civic health authorities were worried over the implications in the most congested locality on the planet which is also Asia's biggest slum.
Despite the ongoing lockdown since March 25, in most parts of Dharavi, its business as usual, prompting Health Minister Rajesh Tope to take note of it and instruct police to "implement lockdown strictly" there.
"In Dharavi, lockdown must be enforced strictly besides ensuring social distancing. The police must take it seriously and take stern measures," Tope told mediapersons.
However, the minister indicated that it may not be necessary to completely seal Dharavi, though norms would be implemented strongly in view of the coronavirus pandemic.
This afternoon, there were shocking visuals of long queues of people awaiting their turn for collecting meals being distributed by some NGOs, and though most sported masks, there was little evidence of social distancing in the queues.
In the morning and evening, the streets seemed to be full and bustling with most activities in the region, with security personnel seemingly helpless to enforce lockdown norms, and today some cops gave a friendly lecture and sit-ups to a few youths loitering around.
Started as a workers' settlement 135 years ago, Dharavi literally meaning 'quick sand' covers just 2.25 sq. km housing over 200,000 families besides over 20,000 big and small businesses generating revenues of an estimated Rs 7,000 crore.
"The biggest problem here is congestiona The people live or work in cramped quarters 8-10 persons in a 100-sq feet room, with common sanitation
( With inputs from IANS )