SDMC goes beyond corona hotspots

Vibha Sharma & Paras Singh | TNN | Updated: Apr 6, 2020, 05:53 IST

Till Sunday, SDMC had sanitised 200 localities and 60,000 houses.

NEW DELHI: The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) on Sunday surveyed 868 houses in the second round of the door-to-door check in Nizamuddin, which has become a Covid-19 hotspot following the Tablighi Jamaat congregations. On Saturday, 77 houses were covered.
Thirteen teams of SDMC nurses and NGO volunteers, along with CRPF jawans and Delhi Police personnel, went to 361 houses in Nizam Nagar, 228 in Dildar Nagar and 279 in Khushroo Nagar and didn’t find any symptom in anybody, said an official. However, 43 families refused to share information while 21 houses were found locked, he added.
While a large chunk of civic resources are focused on containing the spread of the novel coronavirus infection in Delhi’s two hotspots, Nizamuddin and Dishad Garden, the municipal corporations are also running a sustained disinfection and awareness campaign in vulnerable areas, especially JJ clusters with very high density of population.
An SDMC official said that a list of vulnerable spots had been prepared in all four zones. “These are the areas where we may face extreme difficulty if the infection spreads. Hence, we are carrying out intensive disinfection drives using tankers and hand-held pumps,” he added.
With two sanitation workers having been detected with the infection, SDMC on Sunday deployed a drone to spray slum areas in Paschimpuri, Laxmi Jhuggi Camp, Punjabi Bagh Extension and Janakpuri. “The lanes are narrow so we preferred a drone over manual staff. It sprayed 25kg disinfectant solution in 10 rounds, each lasting 30 minutes,” an official said. This minimised chances of sanitation staff catching infection and also saved time, he added.
Only main roads are now covered manually. Even fire tenders are being deployed at places like Shankar Garden, Vikaspuri, Lado Sarai Village, Sarita Vihar, Sarai Kale Khan and Govindpuri Extension.
Tankers have been deployed in Kasturba Niketan, Lajpat Nagar, Bakkarwala quarantine centre, Kapashera Extension and Kalkaji, said a spokesperson. “Regular action plans have been chalked out for densely populated areas, especially JJ clusters,” he added. The spots include Mahavir Enclave, Matiala, Dwarka, Mahipalpur and Kapashera in the Najafgarh zone; and Punjabi Bagh, Subhash Nagar, Khayala and Hastsal in the west zone.
The focus is also on public offices, milk booths, grocery stores, common toilets and lanes where people had been asked to home-quarantine.
Till Sunday, SDMC has sanitised 200 localities and 60,000 houses. At least 750 nurses and 1,100 domestic breeding checkers have surveyed 3,500 quarantined houses and are reporting daily to Delhi government’s nodal officers.
The East Delhi Municipal Corporation is focusing on Dilshad Garden and the neghbouring Dilshad Colony and New Seemapuri. “Three tanker sprinklers, each with 9,000 litre disinfectant, are covering food distribution points, shelters for migrants and colonies with 22 positive cases,” said spokesperson Arun Kumar. More than 1,000 people in these areas have been home-quarantined.