Mail News Service
Jamshedpur, March 17: Whoever believes in the proverb, ‘A burnt child dreads the fire,’ has to rethink and reboot as human traits have undergone drastic changes down the turn of the millennium and perhaps beyond.
It was in March 2020 that coronavirus had reared its ugly head worldwide and taken a massive toll on human lives, devastating families and nations in a manner of Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear holocausts if measured on the scale of proportions.
Coming to the national scenario, the central and state governments clamped a state of nationwide lockdown in which industrial and business activities and livelihood took a massive beating but more importantly, precious lives were saved to live to fight another day. However, in spite of the lockdown phases, compulsive norm benders did venture out and roam the streets and crowd market scenes but the police and district administrations of East Singhbhum, managed to keep this breed of denizens in check by corking their ungainly effervescence. Yet, norms were violated and COVID infections and deaths due to the virus scaled challenging heights. Those who obeyed all norms (repeating them would be cliché) were saved the torture of coronavirus suffering and the slow healing process but human carriers roamed the wilds of public places where the species of ‘higher animals’ rubbed shoulders by crowding and gaining the horrendous stamp of ‘corona infected.’
The district and police administrations pulled up all the stops to curb the disconcerting spread of the infection and fortunately, people realized the seriousness of the disease as well as that of the administration. Cases of infections and deaths gradually dwindled and the unlock periods were cautiously ushered in with the warning not to let down the security shields.
Everything was back to normal in a jiffy. Flouting norms once again became the order of the day. Normal life reflecting care-a-damn attitudes of humans were once again a common scenario. Triple riding or more on two-wheelers, overcrowded autorickshaws mocking stipulated administrative conditions are open documentations of invitation to a revisit of the terrorizing COVID killer.
And right now, the scene has already become like darkness at noon. According to a report 18 coronavirus infection cases were reported in Jamshedpur on Tuesday while the number of active cases stood at 90 and Wednesday has just begun. The count is on. The district administration is tightening its grip on the baton. Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren expressed concern as he stated that corona checks would be tightened and brought back to the level of the pre unlock period.
Jamshedpur has been witness to spot COVID tests at the railway station and at some other city points. It is high time that both, police and district administrations come down heavily on Jamshedpur citizens to prevent them from falling prey to the second wave of COVID destruction. That the administration means business was pertinent when a beauty parlor in Sakchi was sealed on Wednesday evening.
Hopefully, the process of lockdown begins soon. No one wants to revisit the forsaken 2020 times. It has to be now or never.
