Irrespective of what the ongoing pandemic situation, the NMMC commissioner’s plea for self-discipline or the CM trusting responsible citizens this Diwali, most people in Navi Mumbai celebrated Diwali in more or less the same manner as every other year.
Navi Mumbai: The fear, or even concern for covid-19 did not cast any shadow on the festival of lights this year, at least in the city of the twenty first century. Diwali celebrations in the city were carried out great pomp and gaiety and an equally lavish display of fireworks in Navi Mumbai.
During Navi Mumbai Diwali celebrations, it looked like the coronavirus pandemic was a thing of the past with most of the people not giving a second thought to social distancing or other norms. The citizens seemed to have completely failed to comprehend the situation or had chosen to ignore CM Uddhav Thackeray’s “Responsible Citizens” message, or the NMMC Chief, Abhijit Bangar’s message on “Self-discipline”.
Responsibility and Self-discipline were the only things missing this Diwali!
As the evening of Diwali dawned, the city got busy with it’s Diwali celebrations with people dressing up like always, going out like always, visiting families and friends as always, meeting neighbours like always, sharing sweets like always and bursting firecrackers like always!
In Kharghar, it was Diwali like always. People were outside without masks, catching up with friends and neighbours and bursting crackers with their children.
Shubham V., a resident of Kharghar, shares, “Covid-19? Where was that? It was absent it seems! It was just Diwali and the same old celebrations and pollution. Nobody seemed to be bothered about following any social distancing norm or acting responsibly as our dear CM had believed they would. At least not in Kharghar. We are not sure about the rest of the nodes but given the fact that some people don’t give a damn about the pandemic anymore, it must be the same everywhere.”
What’s surprising is that Navi Mumbai saw Diwali celebrations for 2 days back to back, on 14 and 15 November.
Despite the NMMC commissioner remarking that a second wave of coronavirus could be too much to handle, people cared less.
Amid such, there were families and individuals in Navi Mumbai who did best to keep their Diwali festivals within the prescribed norms, by limiting their celebrations to their homes, home-made sweets and delicacies and almost no socializing.
People could also have misunderstood that covid-19 was not so severe now as the number of infections had dipped substantially in Navi Mumbai, as reported by city based tabloids. Although they had stated the fact that it was to make citizens aware that they had to follow the norms even more to keep the numbers low.
The NMMC commissioner had therefore made an appeal to the citizens to celebrate Diwali with self-discipline and utmost care.
Surprisingly, a recent article in a newspaper had read that the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had suggested a ban on the sale and bursting of fire crackers and the civic authority had agreed to abide.
As per news, Abhijit Bangar, the civic chief, had informed that they had decided not to allow the sale of fire crackers in the Navi Mumbai. He had also gone ahead with a warning to those found to be selling or bursting crackers. The law enforcement agency was supposed to take action against all such offenders.
If there truly was a ban on firecrackers then how were firecracker shops able to do business and how were citizens able to go ahead with bursting firecrackers for two days?
Whatever the reason, it was clear this Diwali that some people will always put themselves above the well-being of others, at no matter what the cost.
Our (LocalPress.in) opinion
It is disappointing to see people putting celebrations over the well-being of the community. If the people don’t take up responsibility then how can they expect the administration to do their job well?
Anyway, we thank all the citizens of Navi Mumbai who celebrated Diwali as the current situation demanded of us. You have set a great example of a great community!
For those who ignored the well-being of their fellow citizens and displayed a unique level of self-appeasing and ignorance – remember your behaviour when you have complaints about other people not following certain rules or the administration not looking into things that matter to you. They will be acting just like you!
Last Updated on November 19, 2020 by lp@admin
