Pune: In Wagholi Except Medical Stores All Other Shops Closed till May 23

Pune, May 8, 2020: To stop the spread of Coronavirus, Wagholi Gram Panchayat has decided to shutdown all shops except medical stores till May 23. An order has been issued by the Panchayat to register FIR against traders who will not comply with this order. Till now 5 COVID positive patients have been detected under Panchayat area, and four patients have been cured and discharged. The last patient was reported on April 25. Also, the District Collector on May 4 declared Wagholi area as containment zone with restrictions on movement of people and vehicle.

Meanwhile, the local police and Panchayat has formed special police officers (SPOs) who are assisting people. Also, grocery and other essential products are being provided in the housing societies so that people do not have to go out for buying anything. The authorities have tie-ups with the local vendors for supplying vegetable, fruits, grocery items etc.

A case was earlier registered against the owner and manager of Sagar Wines, a liquor shop on Wagholi-Avhalwadi Road, for selling liquor without complying with the terms and conditions of the Pune District Collector’s order. The FIR was filed against Sagar Wines owner Sagar Niranjan Batra (resident of Kalyani Nagar) and manager Manoj Kumar Devidas Nagdev (resident of Wagholi). Police Naik Vaijnath Nagargoje had complained in this regard with Lonikand police station under Pune rural police.

As per the order of the government and Pune district collector, permission was given on Monday 4th May to open liquor shops in the district with certain conditions. It states that social distance should be observed in front of the shop, thermal scanning of workers and customers should be done, there should not be more than five customers at a time in front of the shop, disinfection of the surrounding area should be done.

As soon as it was learned that liquor shops had opened in Wagholi, a huge crowd had gathered in front of Sagar Wines. The liquor was being sold to customers from Sagar Wines shop in defiance of the Collector’s order. After this, the police closed the liquor shops and filed a case against the owner and manager of Sagar Wines for violating Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code, Disaster Management Act, Epidemic Diseases Act.