Children say they are bored of staying indoors
Kolkata: Residents of central Kolkata play gully cricket flouting lockdown guidelines.
According to Avik Adhikary, a resident of the area, it is boring to look at computer and phone screens for the entire day. “It is not that we aren’t afraid of the virus. We wear masks and sanitize regularly. We take a bath everyday after playing,” he said.
Adults also participate in these matches. Many of them get together on “parar rocks” (street rocks designed for sitting) in the evenings to socialise . Arindam Chatterjee has been meeting his friends every evening for the last twenty years. “It feels like I have not done something important that I do everyday if I don’t go and sit with my friends for one day. We follow all the protocols.”
Local police say they were unaware of the events. West Bengal recorded around 19 thousand fresh covid cases on 22nd May. Experts say this kind of behavior is completely unacceptable.
“The very point of having a lockdown is preventing people from coming together so that we can slow down the rate of cases,” said Lipi Biswas, a public health expert. Experts also requested residents to follow government guidelines.
