"Merchant Associations never proposed a lockdown in Cachar," Mulchand Baid contradicts administration's claim

After the letter that was written by DC Cachar to Chief Secretary proposing a lockdown went viral yesterday on social media, the Merchant Associations came under huge criticism. In the letter, it was mentioned that the merchant associations in Fatak Bazar proposed a lockdown in the district to the deputy commissioner.

The officers in the administration informed that the letter to the Chief Secretary of Assam is just “a mere forwarding of the proposal.” The administration also clarified through an official media statement that the DC did not propose the lockdown instead she just forwarded what the Merchant associations proposed.

After the clarification from the administration, the general public questioned the interest of Merchant Associations in a district-wide lockdown. Few even asked if the associations are running the district. Whenever lockdowns are enforced, the price of essential commodities skyrockets and people assumed that merchant associations are using the scenario to benefit and therefore arm-twisting the administration to enforce a lockdown.

Mulchand Baid, president of the Food Grains Merchant Associations said, “The public shaming that we have been subjected to is really sad. In the middle of the pandemic, shopkeepers are risking their lives and keeping the shops open for the benefit of the general public. We don’t want appreciation, we don’t want gratitude either but abusing us, writing headlines making us the villain is not something we expected. People do not have knowledge about things and yet they chose to shame us.”

The letter written by DC to the Chief Secretary of Assam states that “A meeting was called on August 7, 2020, (administration corrected it and requested to read it as August 6) by Silchar MP Rajdeep Roy and was chaired by the Minister Parimal Suklabaidya. The meeting was also attended by MLA Silchar, MLA Katigorah & MLA Borkhola, representative and Superintendent of Police, Cachar.”

It adds, “The honourable members desired for a lockdown in the district to stem the inflow of positive cases. They suggested that Saturday and Sunday dated 8 & 9, August be permitted for citizens to stock their homes & lockdown be announced from 10 to 13 August 2020 (4 days) with relief on 14. and 15. August and to continue from 16th.”

According to the administration, the “honorable members” here mean the members of the Merchant Association. Baid refused to comment on the particulars of the letter stating, “This is a confidential document and should not have gone viral in this manner.”

However, he clarified that none of the Merchant Associations of Fatak Bazar attended any meeting on either August 6 or 7. “We are just the merchant associations, we do not have the authority to propose a district-wide lockdown. Why on earth will we do that?” by saying so, Baid questioned the subject line of the letter to the chief secretary.

Baid further said there are three merchant associations in Fatak Bazar- Foodgrains Association, New Market Association, and Fatak Bazar associations. “The representatives of all three associations went to meet the DC Madam six days back. When we went there, former MP, MLA, SP Cachar, and other officials were also present. In front of all of them, we proposed a nine-day-lockdown in the Fatak Bazar area which includes Kalibari Char, New Market, and the adjacent market areas; that is it,” Baid asserted.

He added, “The only reason why we went there is that in one day, 10 people tested positive for COVID19 in the Bazar area. We assured the administration that the vegetables, fruits and other daily material shops will remain open and in case of an emergency, we will open the stores too. We had given in writing an undertaking that the temporary lockdown in the Fatak Bazar area will not result in any price inflation.”

On the same development, Sushmita Dev, former MP, questioned the theory of lockdown that got propagated throughout the district. She said, “Lockdown or not is something that the district administration will decide on the basis of the current scenario of the district. The administration is in the best position to take a call on this.”

Dev added, “However, in a meeting with the public representatives in Silchar it was decided that lockdown is not a solution then why is the administration suddenly saying it is the state government’s call in media statements? If the public must decide then call for another public meeting.”

In the letter written to the chief secretary, it is also mentioned that Silchar Medical College which caters to the entire Barak Valley is facing problems with bed shortage as they are treating symptomatic patients. SMCH Bed capacity, according to the letter is 270, occupied by 240. The letter reveals that the ICU capacity is 14 all of which is occupied by patients in critical condition.

“If the medical infrastructure is the reason why DC is proposing a lockdown? I want to ask what happened to the 1000 bed arrangement promised by MoS Pijush Hazarika? What happened to the COVID Hospital promised by Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma? You can’t just visit once and make a headline and then not follow up,” said Sushmita Dev.

Overall, who proposed the lockdown still remains unclear. Though the administration claimed it to be a “mere forwarding exercise” the draft says a different tale all together.