Lucknow & Lockdown – An Insight by Hasan Yaqoob

Lucknow & Lockdown – An Insight

                                                                                          

Lucknow’s imperial splendour has always fascinated people all over the world. City has its own importance and has many imperative reasons for remarkable recognition around the globe.

History has witnessed various type of events in city of nawabs but oflate entire nation so as Lucknow is going through a crucial phase of the trial which has never happened in past, i.e The Lockdown. On March 25, 2020 Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a 21 day nationwide lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Actually it is the strategy of prevention which was necessary for saving human lives, an act in the interest of the nation as well as for mankind.

A lockdown is an emergency protocol that prevents people from leaving a given area and to stay where you are.

India, at the moment, is not under complete lockdown. However, severe travel restrictions have been imposed and public places have been shut. Air, Rail, bus services have been suspended throughout the country.

In this regard, Uttar Pradesh government has exhibited a great amount of dedicated efforts in the planning & execution of the announced lock down, for securing the lives of people of state. During lockdown government shunned the stricter measures and pursued a focused lockdown, which includes social isolation, closure of schools, universities, all trading ceased, malls, Bars, restaurants and cannabis cafes are shut, although food, grocery and pharmaceuticals seem to be doing a roaring trade in takeaways and home deliveries.

People have been advised to stay at home, employees were told to work from home, Police played a vital role in implementation of lock down orders on ground, even checked to grab groceries or essentials as long as you maintain 1.5m  social distance, Which helps citizens appear to be broadly compliant.

But sometimes this lockdown feels invisible. City may be quieter, but children still clamber on climbing frames in societies and teenagers cycle side-by-side in lanes, people are chatting sitting side by side and not realizing that there is a need to shield people at greater risk as much as possible and appear they are self-defeating.

While hats off to the workers of essentials services for keeping the services intact with no scarcity. It is also true that there was a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) like gloves, sanitizers and masks etc which was handled and forted by MSME, local business units, and manufacturers and made the eventual return to normality, accessibility and availability for the people of Lucknow.

During the lockdown e-commerce also played a supportive role in catering the needs of lockdowned consumers, with the backing of technology, data and insights and the right precautionary measures organizations could able to identify the most desirable route to keep the supplies intact during such unprecedented medical emergency; with limited human interaction during this crisis which helped the society by prevention and curtailing spread of Covid-19.

People across the country so in lucknow adapt to their new way of living, experts are predicting that the tightened restrictions will have a wide range of both positive and negative long term effects, countless people may face losing their jobs or significant portions of their incomes as a result of lock down, with fears that many small companies may not survive. It will give a blow to the economy, pause in education, and most affected would be daily wages workers and mid level business men.

While it has been noticed that due to stringent lockdowns to stop the spread of the coronavirus, we have experienced few unintended benefits as well. The outbreak has contributed to cleaner air, noticeable drop in pollution and greenhouse gas emissions in India. With fewer cars on the road and planes in the sky, the environmental benefits of COVID-19 lockdowns are visible. 

One upside to COVID-19 lockdowns around the nation is a cleaner environment, the often dusky lakes including river Gomti in lucknow recently began to get clearer, with fishes visible in the water below. Other few cons of lockdown are that People are getting time of family leisure, revival of hobbies, and completion of pending household assignments, drop off in daily stress, low crime rate, silent clean pathways with lesser road accidents.

So all my dear lucknowites it is our duty to stay at our homes as patriots and as a responsible citizen we should work shoulder to shoulder with the government and society to give a strong fight to COVID-19 during these crucial important restrictions naming it “An Intelligent Lockdown"

Penned down by:- Hasan Yaqoob Advocate

Writer is a Socialist & Senior corporate professional of UP.