P. Swaroopa, who has a business of ironing clothes, faced a difficult situation recently. Her residence in P&T Colony of Dilsukhnagar was barricaded and guarded by police, after it was declared a COVID-19 containment zone by government.
A patient was diagnosed with coronavirus infection in their locality and is being treated at Gandhi Hospital. The entire street where he lived has been barricaded, and the residents have been told to stay home. Whatever they needed from outside would be provided by authorities, against payment of money.
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“I had booked a gas cylinder, and the delivery guy came with it. Finding the street barricaded, he called me on my phone. When I called the contacts given to me in the flyer, there was no response. I had to request my neighbours whose door opened on the other side where there was no barricading, to take the delivery,” she related from the other side of the iron grilles separating her from the rest of the world.
The cylinders were finally exchanged from the rooftop across the parapet wall, which was quite an exercise. She mostly depends on neighbours for her regular needs too, such as groceries and vegetables.
“I have no business for the past one month. My husband who works as washerman in a private hospital too is idle now. We do not have resources to buy provisions for entire month at once, and I am embarrassed to call every time I need small amounts of groceries and vegetables costing ₹20 to ₹30,” Swaroopa says.
The containment zone has 56 households and 285 persons, including senior citizens. “There is no need to hesitate. We will provide anything the residents need. They just have to say it. Initially, we faced a little resistance from senior citizens who said the medicines they needed were available only at Abids. We offered to get the medicines for them, and the problem was solved,” an official monitoring the zone said, expressing satisfaction at the discipline of the residents.
The containment zone at Dabeerpura, declared so after two patients were diagnosed with COVID-19, has 119 households, and 721 persons staying within. But a look at the street near Biwi Ka Alawa now reminds one of a desert. Though grocery shop in the locality is allowed to be open, residents are not being allowed to venture out. Eight to 10 volunteers, instead, do their rounds supplying milk, groceries, medicines and vegetables.
“We get around 250 calls per day for supplies. We arranged for a vegetable vendor at the entrance, and run errands from there,” said Mohammed Kasheef Ansari, site supervisor.