DDMA meet on Feb 25 to take a call on Covid curbs

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) will meet on February 25 to discuss further relaxations in Covid-19 restrictions, as the viral infection count has remained consistently low in the national capital over the past few weeks.

Delhi on Tuesday reported 498 fresh Covid-19 cases and one fatality, while the positivity rate remained below one per cent (0.96%), according to the daily health bulletin issued by the government.

Traders have said the remaining curbs -- night curfew and an early closing time for regular shops -- are limiting their earnings. Even experts said these measures have been scientifically proven not to work.

Headed by lieutenant-governor Anil Baijal and with chief minister Arvind Kejriwal as its vice-chairperson, DDMA has the final say on restrictions related to the pandemic in the national capital. It relaxed some of the business-related curbs on January 27, when it lifted the weekend curfew and an alternate-day opening system for marketplaces where only one of two adjacent shops would open on a given day. It also allowed cinemas, restaurants, and bars to reopen with 50% seating capacity.

Its last meeting was on February 4, the DDMA allowed schools and colleges to reopen in a phased manner and cut the night curfew timing by an hour -- it is now 11pm to 5am. Both steps came after days of advocacy by affected groups; traders said they were incurring heavy losses, while teachers and parents raised the alarm over the ever increasing learning loss in children.

Trader bodies in the Capital have written to the government afresh to ease restrictions so that losses from the closures -- on account of the Covid wave triggered by the Omicron variant in January -- can be recovered.

Atul Bhargava, president of the New Delhi Traders’ Association, said shops in Delhi should be allowed to remain open till at least 9.30pm daily. Currently, they are to close by 8pm.

Earlier, auto drivers too had raised complaints about the restrictions. Rajendra Soni, general secretary, Delhi Autorickshaw Sangh and Delhi Pradesh Taxi Union, said the restrictions on passengers in autorickshaws, cabs and e-rickshaws had adversely impacted a sector that was only just recovering from the previous series of curbs.

“Auto drivers are unable to get passengers. A three-member family that arrives at a railway station cannot sit in one auto-rickshaw due to such restrictions. Are they supposed to hire two autos?,” said Soni.