Chinchwad: Stone pelting in Anandnagar slum, demand to relax the lockdown
Pimpri, June 8, 2020: Hundreds of residents from Anandnagar slums of Pimpri-Chinchwad area took to the streets again. This time, however, they took an aggressive stance, throwing stones and damaging properties including vehicles. Also, as it is a containment zone, the barricades put up by police were also broken. The area has been sealed since May 13 as over 200 COVID-19 patients have been found there.
A few days back too, a similar incident had occurred when residents Anandnagar slum area had come out in protest on the streets. However, the local administration including local corporators, PCMC commissioner Shravan Hardikar and the police administration had managed to control the crowd immediately.
But this time, it was a hard task. Around 3.30 pm today, suddenly hundreds of residents came out on the streets. Police officers and staff on patrol tried to convince them to stay at home. Defying the orders, people resorted to stone-pelting resulting in injuries to some policemen and damage to 2 two-wheelers and a four-wheeler.
Unable to control the crowd, the police had to withdraw for some time due to less number of police personnel present at the spot. As soon as more police force reached the spot, within 30 minutes the roads were cleared and crowd had dispersed.
Chinchwad police station has informed that the police will file a case against the concerned persons. A police force has been stationed in the locality.
What happened on May 20th?
About hundreds of people of Anandnagar slum demanding to provide food and rations. The area was marked as containment zone due to increase in number of COVID-19 patients. At that time, 35 people in the area were infected with corona.
As a result, the shops were closed as the grocery shopkeepers were among the coronavirus positive patients. After the PCMC Commissioner Shravan Hardikar reached and he had assured to provide all the necessary things and calmed the crowd down. However, today people again protested claiming the administration has turned a blind eye.
