Nearly a week after fishing had resumed and lockdown norms were automatically ignored, the Thiruvananthapuram district administration has officially announced relaxation of lockdown restrictions in 'critical containment zones' (CCZ) along the Thiruvananthapuram coast.
The relaxations came into force from the midnight of August 16, the day when fresh COVID cases touched a new high of 519. As usual, nearly 70 per cent of the cases have been reported from the coastal areas.
The opening up of the highly affected coastal areas has come two days after lockdown was lifted almost fully in Thiruvananthapuram. Though relaxations have been announced, most of the coastal areas in the district, from Anchuthengu in the north to Poovar in the south, will remain designated as 'critical containment zones'.
District collector Navjot Khosa's order says that fishing can be carried out in CCZs as per guidelines. “There is nothing that the administration could do, even with the help of the police, to prevent the fisherfolk from going out fishing after holding them back for nearly two months in the name of COVID control. In fact, fishing and allied activities had already begun in the coastal areas from August 11. This order is just to put an official gloss to what has already happened,” a top district official said.
The administration now will have to make sure that certain preventive protocols are adhered to. It has been mandated that the boats that go out to the sea daily should be registered with the Vizhinjam Fisheries Station a day before the expedition begins.
Further, to control the crowd, each coastal area has been given specific fishing days. For instance, people in Vizhnjam will have three days: Monday, Wednesday, Saturday. Fishermen from Pozhiyoor to Chowara: Tuesday. And fishermen from Poonthura to Veli: Thursday and Friday. Only Vizhinjam harbour will be opened, and only 600 boats will be allowed to operate daily. Timing restrictions are only for fishers using the Vizhinjam harbour. Fish workers in panchayat areas like Pulluvila, Adimalathura and Pozhiyoor have no such restrictions as they can push their boats into the sea from their own coasts.
Also, entry to the Vizhinjam harbour will be barred. Only wholesalers who had secured advance passes from harbours will be allowed to purchase the fish. Despite the ban, autorickshaws that serve retail fish vendors violate the ban and swarm the wharf.
There will be no auction either. Fish prices will also be fixed, and the prices of each variety will be displayed prominently at the harbours.
Considering that the spread began from a large fish market in Kumarichantha, the latest order prohibits the functioning of fish markets. Instead, fish vendors can sell fish only in their own wards.
Earlier, the decision was to prevent retail fish vendors, most of them women, from even purchasing and selling fish. But this had not deterred fish vendor women from crowding the Vizhinjam harbour when the boats came back with their catch.
Now the order has been revised to dissuade them from at least taking the fish to large markets. Fact is, the impromptu fish markets in each wards are drawing huge crowds.
Like in the city areas, government and private offices, including banks, along the coast can function with 50 per cent staff. However, the shutters should be down by 5pm. Banks have been advised to employ the token system to control crowds.
As for shops, they can open from 7am to 4pm. In the city, the shops can remain open from 7am to 7pm. Akshaya centres and ration shops, two public service system coastal folk depend a lot, have also been allowed to function.
Like in the city, there will be no indoor service in restaurants and tea shops but they can open a takeaway counter.
Since people coming together for marriages and funerals are igniting new clusters, attendance at these functions will be more restricted in coastal areas. For both marriages and funerals, attendance should not cross 20.
Night curfew, from 9pm to 5am, will also be in force.
