#HyderabadLivesMatter: Citizens raise flag against unlock 1 relaxations

Hyderabad: A citizens group has started a hashtag on Twitter questioning the Telangana government's plan to reopen shopping malls, restaurants and religious places at a time when COVID 19 cases are on the rise. It is to note, the number of COVID cases and death have spike ever since the relaxation came into place. On June 9th, for another straight day, six have died and 178 new cases were tested positive for COVID.

#HyderabadLivesMatter was started by United Federation of Resident Welfare Associations (UFERWAS) to discuss re-opening of shopping malls, restaurants, and religious places under Unlock 1.0.

The respondents gave an “overwhelming No” for reopening malls, restaurants, and religious places.

“We witnessed more than 2000 interactions. About 80 active participants tweeted on issues of increased testing, data sharing, the involvement of civil society, an extension of lockdown, and limited lockdown. The unanimous view was that public places should not be opened,” said B.T Srinivasan, General Secretary, UFERWAS

Calling for more testing in Telangana, the members said that the move to open shopping malls, restaurants, and religious places could lead to crisis.

“With Hyderabad reporting more than 100 cases every day, do we need malls, liquor shops, restaurants, religious places to open?” asked Major Shiva Kiran, one of the office-bearers at UFERWAS

The residents said it would be difficult to maintain physical distancing given the psyche of people. They also suggested the formation of a single Command Centre for all Corona related issues. The residents also proposed bringing the entire network of Private Hospitals under government control.

Meanwhile, the UFERWAS has decided to submit a representation to the health minister in this regard.