Sir,

We have been under lockdown since March 25, 2020, for good. Our Prime Minister was clever enough to put the entire country under lockdown very quickly. We all must thank the PM for the timely act.

During lockdown period, till now, we observed that most of the deaths due to COVID-19 have occurred in big cities across the world. For example New York in US, London in UK etc. These cities are busiest and known for commercial activities. That means they are highly populated places.

Moreover, the Western countries have high usage of International flights. I came to know that even China, the source country of COVID-19, had a number of daily flights to both Europe and US. That’s how the spread of virus has been very intensive in those places.

One lesson that we can learn from COVID-19 is that we should not allow big cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai etc., to further grow exponentially. Instead, the Government should give license to start new industries or businesses in Tier-II and Tier-III cities.

By doing so, our educated people can settle in their home district, rather than moving to big cities in search of jobs. Places like Mysuru have all the infrastructure to accommodate new industries and businesses, but the apathy of the Government is not letting it to grow.

I hope, at least from now on, the State and the Central Governments come up with strict policies for the growth of Tier-II and Tier-III cities.

– R. Prakash, Kanakadasa Nagar, 27.4.2020

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