Confusion over containment zone in Darjeeling town

Amitava Banerjee  |  Darjeeling  | 3 September 2020 : Confusion ensued over the declaration of containment zone at the Ladenla Road in Darjeeling. While all the commercial establishments on the road have shut down, the two private banks that have registered a number of Covid-19 positive cases, believed to be the cause of declaring the area as a containment zone, remain open. 

Incidentally, a private bank located at the Rink Mall on the Ladenla road in Darjeeling had registered a Covid-19 case on August 23. Following this a number of cases were reported in another private bank next door. The banks were then closed down. 

On August 30th afternoon, a notice was put up on the Darjeeling police website declaring containment zones in the Darjeeling municipality area. The notice No: 205/C dated 29.08.2020 declared three containment zones in the Darjeeling municipal area including the Reliance Mall area, Chota-kak jhora, ward 10; Ladenla road Rink Mall area, ward 15 and Dhobi Talaw, ward number 17 under Darjeeling Municipality. 

Rink Mall is located on Ladenla Road, the commercial part of town. The containment zone on Ladenla Road extends from Penang restaurant on the north of Rink Mall; Turnbull school in the east; Garuda hotel in the west and Hotel Red Rose in the south. The restrictions in this area will be in force for seven days from the declaration coming into effect at 9am on August 30. All commercial activities except essential services and sale of essential commodities has been prohibited in the containment zone. 

With the business establishment coming to know of this declaration late afternoon on August 30, all the shops remained open. August 31 being the date for statewide lockdown, everything remained closed. Since September 1, all the shops and the business establishments located in the containment zone have remained shut. However, the banks have remained open. 

"We fail to understand why shops are being forced shut while the two banks remain open. The only Covid-19 cases in the containment zone area have been reported from the banks, thus we can safely assume that owing to the banks the area has been declared as a containment zone," stated a shop owner, requesting anonymity. Similar questions are doing the rounds among the residents regarding the purpose of the entire exercise if the epicentres of the infection are not closed down. 

When contacted, S. Ponnambalam, District Magistrate, Darjeeling stated "Banks and post offices come under essential services. They have however been asked to minimize public interaction and crowd. However, if multiple cases are detected in any establishment, we can explore options of closure." 

(Courtesy & source: Millenium Post- http://www.millenniumpost.in/kolkata/confusion-over-containment-zone-in-darjeeling-town-417326)