In a development that caused anxious moments for the health and police officials in the metropolis, hundreds of labourers gather at Mumbai’s Dharavi locality to take special buses to reach three railway terminuses to board “Sharmik Special” trains leaving for their native states, even Asia’s largest slum recorded 38 new cases.
The police were in for a surprise as huge crowds of migrants gathering at Dharavi slum since morning to take buses heading for the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), Dadar railway station, Mumbai Central and Lokmanya Tilak Terminus to board board “Sharmik Special” trains leaving for their native states,
Given that Dharavi is a major Covid-19 hotspot in Mumbai, the presence of hundreds of migrant workers on roads sent the police and health officials into a tizzy.
Before long, huge posse of police personnel rushed to Dharavi and requested the crowds to form queues to board the buses heading to various railway terminuses in the metropolis. They had a trying time in managing the crowds that had gathered defying the social distancing norms.
Meanwhile, Dharavi recorded 38 more infected cases, taking the total number of positive cases in this densely populated slum to 1621. There have been 59 deaths in this slum so far.
As has been the case, Matunga labour camp— which is the worst affected locality in Dharavi — reported a maximum of 10 new positive cases on Tuesday. Of the infected were two infants — one six months’ old and another aged 20 months.
In the post couple of week, there have on an average been half a dozen cases reported from locality every day.
Spread over 240 hectare area, Dharavi is home to more than 4 lakh people. It has been a hotbed for Coronavirus, ever since the first couple deaths and infected cases were reported from this slum in the first week of April.