Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...
THE Union Home Ministry has laid down clear rules to be implemented by Enforcement Agencies to allow smooth transportation of essential goods during lockdwon period. Notwithstanding the orders, the agencies have launched crackdown against those who are exempted from the list of prohibited items.
Observing this gross violation of rules of Union Home Ministry, Additional Director General of Police (ADG) Highway Police Vinay Korgaonkar has come down heavily on Police Unit Commanders and said that essential goods movement was disturbed due to the action causing shortage of essential items in the country. The ADG has issued a nine-point advisory to Police Units in Maharashtra and ordered them to follow the order in letter and spirit.
ADG Korgankar, in the notification, said that trucks transporting essential goods were not being allowed for no reason. “Passes are not being issued to the labourers working at companies involved in manufacturing of essential goods,” he observed. “If one State issues transportation passes for labourers and goods, another State is not paying importance to the passes and prohibiting them from entering the State,” he said and added that work at cold storage and godowns was also stalled.
“The Union Home Ministry has given permission for transportation of above items. However, unnecessary action on parts of enforcement agencies is creating shortage of essential goods,” he clarified.
Issuing advisory for smooth flow of traffic, ADG Korgaonkar said that no permission was required for trucks transporting essential or non-essential goods within state or country. “Only two persons should be allowed in the vehicle including one with license holder driver. Similarly, movement of empty trucks for loading of goods from one place to another also be allowed,” he ordered.
Local administration should allow movement of truck driver and cleaners from their house to the truck and labourers from their house to factories. Railways, Airport Authorities, State Excise Department are empowered for issuing passes to their staff.
Floor mills and vegetable oil manufacturing units and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises manufacturing these items should be allowed to operate without hindrance. Functioning of cold storage and godowns also allowed and vehicles transporting goods to these places should not be stopped, he said.
The order should be implemented across the state barring containment zones designated by authorities. The ADG also asked the police personnel to not allow illegal transportation under the garb of essential goods.
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