With six fresh corona positive cases reported in Telangana taking the total number to 33, top cops and collectors got onto the streets to enforce the complete lockdown across Telangana.

In Hyderabad, police commissioner Sajjanar did the job of the traffic police. He stopped the vehicles in the city’s posh and busy Banjara Hills questioning the motorists as to why they have stepped out of their homes and pulled them up for violating the lockdown.

While pulling up the motorists, Sajjanar said the lockdown will be strictly enforced under the Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897 and the Disaster Management Act of 2005. “People who violate the lockdown will face criminal action. No one will be spared. This is in the interests of the public,” he said. He stopped a four-wheeler and pulled up the driver as to why he was on the road instead of staying indoors. He warned the driver that he will be liable for penal action for stepping out of his home. At other times, Sajjanar was seen sensitizing people on the importance of lockdown and asserted that the total lockdown would be implemented strictly and advised people against moving from 7 pm to 6 am on the roads. Several persons who were found loitering aimlessly on the roads were stopped by the police.

Telangana DGP M Mahender Reddy on Monday informed that in view of lockdown till March 31, the public should strictly heed to the advisory and rules framed by the government. He warned that violation of the lockdown will attract penal action.

In Siricilla, district collector Krishna Bhaskar was seen pulling the motorists wearing on lockdown violations. He stopped every single vehicle be it a two-wheeler or a four-wheeler and slammed the motorists for not respecting the lockdown. Stopping a four-wheeler, he angrily asked the driver “Are you any special to the rule? Are you above the law? Don’t know that there is complete lockdown and that you are not supposed to come out of your house. You should stay indoors. This is for your safety, don’t you understand.”

People should understand that it is no less than a national emergency. The governments of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have taken several measures for public safety, but when will people understand that initiatives like complete lockdown is in their interests. All education institutions in both the states are closed, examinations postponed, public places such as cinema halls, malls, pubs, parks closed. The lockdown comes as an effective measure as the states across the country learnt from the experience of countries like Italy and Spain where people took a casual approach to such initiatives and indulged in merry making and social gatherings in public placed due to which the contagion spread. The time the governments and the people woke up, it was too late. The infection spread killing people by the hundreds. If top cop Sajjanar and district collector Krishna Bhaskar get onto the street, it is in the best interests of the people. They can simply sit in their offices and direct their subordinates to monitor the situation, but they felt duty bound to enforce the lockdown in the best interests of the public. When will people wake up?