Ongole: People for tough Covid norms

Ongole: People have been suggesting the government to implement restrictions on the seating in RTC buses and bus stands, ban on meetings, closure of restaurants and theatres instead of leaving them to their fate.

T Naga Jyothi, a mother of two toddlers, who travelled from Guntur to Ongole on Thursday complained that there is no blockage of seats in the RTC buses. She said that any person just by wearing a mask can sit next to anyone, even though he or she coughs or sneezes on the bus.

She observed that everyone is wearing masks loosely and the aerosols are freely mixing into the atmosphere. Though the authorities announce that they have fixed thermal scanners at the only entrance and exit point at Ongole, the staff appointed there are busy using mobile phones and collecting swabs from the people who demanded a test, than observing the passengers with high body temperatures entering the town and testing them.

Similar situations are reported at the markets in Ongole and other towns in the district. The Bapuji Market Complex is bustling with traffic on internal roads even in the scorching sun. A customer to one of the shops, M Ramachandra Rao of Darsi advised the government to not listen to the traders as they talk only about money but not the wellbeing of the fellow people.

He recollected that last year many people who visited the shops in the BMC, Gandhi Road, Pappu Bazaar and other market places lost their lives in the district.

When asked why he was there in the busy market, he said that the Sowkar of the shop demanded him the dues of the earlier bills and he paid it on Thursday.

A volunteer in a ward secretariat said that the government conducted the award distribution program for the volunteers with large crowd gatherings until now. He opined that the government looked for its mileage and opportunities to silence the volunteers in the name of awards and conducted those ceremonies until now.

He said that the government also cooperated for the screening of hyped movies to make money at full seating capacity. As the awards distribution is done in almost all places and the movie producers made enough money, the authorities are now announcing local restrictions and ordering to close the small businesses from now on, he observed.

The public are demanding the government to show some respect to their lives and take appropriate decisions in the time they are really needed but not after it made money and mileage.