Weekend curbs fail as crowds flock to city beaches maskless

Weekend curbs fail as crowds flock to city beaches maskless

Sands, Service Lane Off Limits, Walkers Crowd Pavement

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:12,04.2021

It would be comical if it weren’t so dangerous. The government shut the Marina beach to keep crowds, and thus Covid, away. So morning walkers crowded the pavement along Kamarajar Salai (see photograph). Normally, the crowds would have been divided between the pavement and the service road along the beach and social distancing would have been better observed.

Policemen were posted at MRTS stations and other approach roads to the Marina to dissuade people from going to the beach. But Sunday crowds were in no mood to listen.

Some enterprising souls ventured on to the sands claiming they were there to buy fish. Cops in beach buggies and on horseback chased them away.

Even those who came to the Namma Chennai selfie point in groups were asked to leave.

Similar scenes were witnessed at other beaches in the city including Elliots at Besant Nagar and Thiruvanmiyur. If they were not allowed on the sands, people crowded where they could. Social distancing was no one’s concern.

As the positive cases rose, the state government banned entry of public in all the beaches in Chennai, Chengalpet and Tiruvallur districts on all weekends, and on all government holidays to prevent spread of the second wave.

Barricades have been erected and police pickets posted in all the beaches to prevent public entry. As many as 250 policemen were posted for security both on sands and service road to avoid people from gathering at the Marina.

“We barricaded the stretches from Napier bridge to Srinivasapuram. The beaches on Sunday had additional deployment. We kept making announcements through the public address system to keep people from gathering at the beaches,” said deputy commissioner, East, V Balakrishnan.

“I came to my sister’s home in Vysarpadi, so I decided to see Marina beach with my family. I did not know the new restrictions until the police stopped me,” says Mariappan, a resident of Villupuram.

Residents complained that they were being kept away from beaches at a time when the summer heat is intensifying. But no one appeared worried about crowding in the midst of a pandemic. Frustrated policemen and policewomen were left to chase after people who really should know better.

IGNORANCE IS NOT BLISS: Additional police personnel were posted at the city beaches on Sunday, but walkers and other beachgoers feigned innocence and said they weren’t aware of the new ban to visit beaches. Most weren’t wearing masks either, one year since it was made mandatory