Nashik administration to charge Rs 5 for hour-long visit to market as COVID cases surge

The Nashik administration is charging people to access the local market for an hour in order to decongest crowded areas amid rising COVID-19 cases. Nashik City's Commissioner of Police Deepak Pandey on Tuesday, March 30, said that the administration is issuing a ₹5 ticket per person to enter into the markets for an hour to avoid the imposition of lockdown in the city.

Pandey said, "We are using a different approach to contain COVID-19 spread in Nashik. We are issuing a ticket of ₹5 per person to enter a market area for an hour. It's an attempt to save the city from entering lockdown."

Amid COVID surge, Nashik administration to charge Rs 1 to enter the market

On the other hand, state Health Minister Rajesh Tope has requested people to get their COVID test done on time. He noted, "ICU and oxygen beds are filling up fast as people are coming to the hospitals in a bad state because they got themselves tested very late. I appeal to everyone to get tested."

The state of Maharashtra cannot afford a lockdown, said Minister Nawab Malik. He added that he has asked Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to look for other options. Nawab opined, "We can't afford a lockdown. We've asked the CM to consider other options. Due to rising cases, he has directed the administration to prepare for a lockdown but that doesn't mean that a lockdown is inevitable. If people follow rules, it can be avoided." 

Maha CM asks health officials to take necessary measures to curb COVID-19 

Thackeray had previously told senior health officials and the COVID-19 task force that if people continued to break Covid-related laws, they need to stay prepared for restrictions close to lockdown. The Maharashtra Chief Minister claimed that Covid-19 cases are on the rise as a result of people not taking guidelines seriously and that stringent measures such as lockdown should be considered.

Maharashtra registered 27,918 new COVID-19 cases and 139 deaths in the last 24 hours. Whereas, India recorded 53,480 new Coronavirus cases taking the total number of cases in the country to 1,21,49,335.

(with inputs from ANI)

(Picture Credit: PTI)