Covid-19: Mumbai witnesses chaos on Day 1 of unlock

As Mumbai slowly untangled itself from Covid19 restrictions crowded locals occupied by too many unauthorised travellers and clogged roads marked Day 1 of Unlock on Monday Spells of heavy showers in many areas amid the forecast of a good monsoon added to the chaos giving a glimpse of life during the rainy days ahead While shops and hotels did not seem to be in a hurry for business roadside food vendors returned with gustoIn many places the western suburbs didnrsquot look any different from the prepandemic days PicRane AshishThe relaxation of curbs till 4 pm did not sit well with the hotel industry as many bars and restaurants lounge bars fine dining places remained shut Their association said that a few hotels chose to reopen on Day 1 of UnlockShivanand Shetty of restaurant body AHAR said ldquoThis decision does not help our business at all and thus many have chosen to remain shut Our actual business starts in the evening and restaurants do not want to bear the cost of opening and calling the staff if the revenue is going to be just 10 to 20 per cent of what we generally earn in a full day Hardly 20 to 25 per cent of the restaurants opened on Monday and those managed to do a fair business are in office areasrdquoA barber at work at Thakur Village Kandivli on Monday PicSatej ShindeTrader bodies stressed that the nonessential services staff must be given the vaccine Viren Shah of Federation of Retail Traders Welfare Association or FRTWA said ldquoWe welcomed this decision as it allowed us two hours more and without any alternate day restriction but we want our staff to be vaccinated as we will be in direct contact with customers For our and their safety we want vaccinationrdquoAlso RedLight to moderate rain to continue in Mumbai for 4872 hours IMDThough spas and salons opened to a lull day they hope more and more customers will trickle in soonDespite clear guidelines on the Unlock many shops dealing in nonessential products did not open A few opened in the morning but shut around 2pm two hours before their closing timeA nonessential shop in Borivli on Day 1 of Unlock PicSatej ShindeldquoIt did not really seem like unlocking as many shops selling nonessential items were closedrdquo said Saili Raut a resident of IC Colony Rupesh Shah who runs Jalaram Provision Stores in Eksar area said ldquoIt is just the day one of unlocking Many nonessential shop owners will join in a day or two as they see customer demandrdquoHowever several hawkers and street food vendors including chaatwalas and juice sellers were seen in Andheri Bandra West Kalanagar Khar and Santacruz A greater number of food stalls on the street were seen functioning till evening though for takeaway a large crowd was seen outside popular joints which opened after a long time in Borivali areas as wellRoad to despairThe Western Express Highway returned to its usual avatar of crawling traffic around 1030 am on Monday Stretches near Jogeshwari and Behram Baug heading towards the highway and part of WEH opposite the airport were jampacked particularly after some areas received heavy showers At certain points vehicles heading for Kandivli and Borivli got delayed 2535 minutesWorkers get ready to receive customers at a restaurant in Matunga PicPradeep DhivarToo many unauthorised travellers on trainsWith government offices told to operate at full capacity the number of local train commuters rose significantly on Day 1 but it was unauthorised travellers who added to chaos A whole lot of passengers were seen travelling during nonoffice hours also There were long queues outside railway ticket counters and many found their ways directly to the platform taking advantage of less vigilance at entry pointsldquoI work at Goregaon shop There are long queues for buses and the western express highway is jampacked every day How can I travel by road So I somehow managed to get a railway passrdquo said a passenger from Mira Road requesting anonymityldquoAs the state government allowed private offices to operate with 50 per cent staff do they have a plan of travelling for half a crore population without local services I am worried about road travelling as I have had the experience of travelling during the unlock after the first waverdquo said Yogesh Ghanekar an employee with a private firm at Reay RoadAnother nonessential shop in Dadar on first day of Unlock PicPradeep DhivarAll fine railwaysThe Central and Western railways denied that there was excessive crowding on trains and the situation was manageable ldquoPassenger increase was low as earlier also we were running at nearly full capacity But still we opened 12 extra counters The queue length will be observed at ground level in realtime and an appropriate decision will be takenrdquo said a CR spokesperson This takes the total number of ticket counters to 228 at 83 stations on CR network ldquoWe will monitor the crowd and take action if any more ticket windows need to be openedrdquo a WR spokesperson saidInputs from Rohit Parikh4 PMTime till when shops have been allowed to operate