The first day of lockdown 4.0 was marked by confusion in the state’s cities over contradictory central and state guidelines on which shops should open and which should not amid a growing clamour for more judicious relaxations.

The Centre has announced relaxations, especially in orange and green zones, but the Jharkhand government has not.

As with the previous phases of the lockdown, barring medicine and grocery shops, petrol pumps, milk kiosks and vegetable market, everything else was closed in red zone Ranchi.

In Lalpur, Namkum, Kutchery and Kanta Toli, garages, sweet and electronics shops had rolled up shutters, but cops, who were found enforcing the lockdown with the same zeal, asked them to shut down.

Argora police station OC Binod Kumar admitted that there was confusion in the morning.

“In my jurisdiction, owners of sweet and electronics shops were back in business after reading the guidelines of the central government published in some of the vernacular dailies. They closed their shops after I made them understand that the state government guidelines were yet to come,” Kumar said.

There were more vehicles on the roads on Monday than earlier.

Residents told The Telegraph that a judicious withdrawal of lockdown was the need of the hour to help mitigate people’s hardships.

Harmu resident Tarun Kumar Jha, who works at an NGO in Patna, said: “The government needs to ensure that the OPD and emergency services continue in all private hospitals so that people don’t die of other diseases in the country’s fight against Covid-19. Two days ago, my eight-year-old daughter had a pain in her chest. I rushed to a private hospital in Harmu and found it completely closed. I had to wait till the next day, when a doctor treated my daughter at his residence. It was a traumatic experience for me.”

Arun Sahu, a businessman from Argora, said instead of ensuring home delivery of liquor, the government should offer health service on the doorstep for the needy.

Nadeem Khan, convener of voluntary outfit Lahu Bolega, supported Sahu and Jha.

“The government should allow the revival of economic activities in green and orange zones. Containment areas should be divided into micro-containment areas and some relaxations should be given in those parts that have no Covid-19 cases. The government should take over private hospitals to ensure emergency and OPD services till the fight against novel coronavirus continues,” Khan said.

He said social and healthcare volunteers should be allowed to move freely to ensure that there was no shortage of blood in the blood banks.

Pandra resident and businessman Dinesh Agrawal stressed the need to issue vehicle passes to those stranded. “Many are stranded in the city during the lockdown. They are neither migrant labourers nor students, but had come to meet relatives or for other official work. The government should arrange vehicle passes for them,” he said.

Agrawal added that the fourth phase of lockdown should be used to test more people by increasing the number of labs and running them 24/7.

Day One of the fourth phase of the lockdown; a large number of vehicles hit the street at Sakchi in Jamshedpur. Pictures by Bhola Prasad

Steel city

Lockdown 4.0 was much like lockdown 3.0 in orange zone Jamshedpur, except for a few hours in the morning when vehicles hit the road in large numbers.

Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC) special officer Krishna Kumar said people had the tendency to get out of the house at the slightest of pretexts. “At all the intra-city checkpoint, barricades continue to be there as these were erected since the first phase of the lockdown. The police and magistrates are checking passes of people. Our enforcement teams moved through all the commercial areas to ensure that no shops, barring essential ones, are open,” he said.

But people were unpleasantly surprised. “I saw on TV channels that there are many relaxations for cities in orange zones,” said a retired Tinplate employee. “I had given my woollens in mid-March to a laundry shop in Golmuri and had gone in the morning hoping to get it back expecting it to open as it was announced yesterday on the TV channels that laundry shops can open even in red zones. Surprisingly, the shop was closed.”

Trader from Jugsalai, Anil Modi was angry at the Jharkhand government. “We have been told that the government will take a decision after a high level meeting in Ranchi if any relaxation would be given or not from May 19 (Tuesday). When the Union government announced extension of lockdown till May 31 on Sunday, why did not the state government hold its meeting the same day?”

A not-so-empty Gaya Bridge at Naya Bazar in Dhanbad. Pictures by Gautam Dey

Coal town

Monday morning saw more activity as a large number of private vehicles were seen on roads and shops dealing in non-essential items were also found open in suburban localities such as Wasseypur, Pandarpala, Bhaga, Phusbunglow and Rani Road. But soon, shops closed with no guidelines coming from the state government on relaxations.

Das plea, district reply

Former CM Raghubar Das wrote to chief secretary Sukhdev Singh requesting to allow wholesale and retail shops to be open in green and orange zones on the lines of what has been done in Odisha and Bengal.

However, East Singhbhum additional district magistrate (law and order) N. K. Lal said they would wait for guidelines from the government on relaxation as Covid-19 cases were witnessing a rise in the state. We will also strictly enforce night curfew between 7pm and 7am. Violators will be prosecuted,” he added.