City seals borders for 1 week with UP, Haryana
■ Kejri’s order came hours after Haryana opened Gurgaon-Delhi entry points
After reluctance by Haryana and Uttar Pradesh government to allow commuters from Delhi for past few weeks due to a surge in Covid cases in their district, city chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said that Delhi borders will be shut for a week, adding that essential services will be allowed. He further said that people with passes will be allowed to enter the national capital.
“Delhi borders to be sealed for the next one week. Essential services are exempted. We will take a decision again in one week to open borders after suggestions from citizens,” said the CM.
The order to close the borders came hours after Haryana opened the Gurgaon-Delhi borders in line with the Centre’s revised guidelines for Unlock 1.
To decide on whether the borders should be opened, CM Kejriwal has sought suggestions from the people through WhatsApp or email till 5.00 pm on Friday. CM Arvind Kejriwal said, “I am here to ask for your guidance on a very important question: Should the borders of Delhi be opened? There is
an important aspect of this question. Covid positive cases are rising in Delhi, which is a matter of worry. But there is no need to panic.”
He said that the decision to open Delhi borders can be challenging because of the large influx of people from across the country for medical treatment.
“People from all across the country come to Delhi for their medical treatment because firstly Delhi’s healthcare system is better than the healthcare system of any other state in the country. Secondly, the medical services
at government hospitals in Delhi are free of cost.
“People can avail free of cost treatment at the government hospitals even if the treatment costs `10 lakh. As soon as we open the borders, people from across the country will come to Delhi for better treatment. We have a capacity of 9,500 beds for the treatment of coronavirus in Delhi hospitals as against 2,300 patients today, but all the beds will be occupied in just 2-3 days if we have an influx of patients from across the country,” he
said. “What should we do? Some people believe that the borders should be opened but medical treatment in the hospitals should only be given to the residents of Delhi. But how can we do that?
“Delhi is the national capital of the country and it belongs to all, even to people of Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Maharashtra. How can Delhi deny treatment to all these people now? We have various suggestions and we need your guidance on what should be done,” he added.