Action group hails NMC move to ‘unlock’ Mominpura

Nagpur: Community action group formed to help city administration unlock Mominpura, which was completely sealed for over two months, hailed the decision to divide the containment zone in smaller groups.
Mominpura residents and shopkeepers thanked Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) and Nagpur Police for accepting their requests for opening unaffected areas.
The blanket ban on movement had crippled livelihood of over 2 lakh people who were up in arms against the civic body for sealing almost all entry and exit points.
Following two incidents of large crowds gathering on streets to protest the continued lockdown, social, religious organizations and activists had formed an action group to initiate a discussion with the administration.
Residents and others too had joined the campaign to help unlock the area. Just like the action group, former state minister Anees Ahmed too had met state home minister Anil Deshmukh and top city bureaucrats to apprise them about the ground reality.
Vidarbha Powerloom Weavers’ Association president and also a member of the action group Ayub Ansari said, “We thank civic chief Tukaram Mundhe, CP BK Upadhyay and district collector Ravindra Thakre. The civic chief was kind enough to give his time to listen to us. Junior officials had presented a wrong picture about entire Mominpura.”
The association secretary Hifzur Rehman said, “Nearly 10,000 to 15000 weavers are directly and indirectly dependent on powerlooms here.”
Another group member Dr Sarfaraz Ahmed said, “More than Covid-19, residents were worried about dying of starvation. Thankfully, the administration understood their problems.”
Mominpura Traders’ Welfare Association secretary Javed Ansari said, “Shopkeepers and residents are left with no money to feed their families. It is a good decision to curtail the containment zone. The unlocking will help people earn a livelihood and head towards normalcy.”
Ex-minister Ahmed said, “Better late than never. Now people can feed themselves. I had reminded our home minister and bureaucrats that the government had allowed powerlooms to run in Bhiwandi, Malegoan and Solapur and we too could have started on those lines.”
Aslam Belawala, a garment wholesaler, said, “We will have to cooperate with the administration and learn to live with corona. I thank all those who worked for us, especially the NMC staff. If we have committed any mistake, we are sorry. We will start again and bring back the lost glory.”