Residents chat from their balconies during the nationwide lockdown Friday, ExpressPhoto by Ashish Kale

While eight slums in Pune have emerged as the most affected areas, with a high number of coronavirus cases, the Tadiwala Road slum area in Dhole Patil is the worst hit, according to the Pune Muncipal Corporation (PMC).

The densely-packed slum has a population of 2,365 living in 473 shanties, followed by Patil Estate slum area in Shivajinagar, where 5,880 live in 1,776 shanties, followed by Laxminagar slum area in Yerawada, where 18,705 live in 3,741 shanties.

Other slums in the list are Sainathnagar in Kasba peth, Kamgarputla slum area in Shivajinagar, Lohiyanagar slum in Bhavani Peth, Kashewadi slum in Bhavani Peth and Nagpur chawl slum in Yerawada.

The eight slums are located in areas under five ward offices of the civic body, which have reported more than 100 cases each.

The PMC has now launched a special drive in slum areas to contain the disease by rigorously screening local residents. “The PMC staff conducting door-to-door surveys often face opposition in most of these areas. The residents don’t cooperate, so police help is taken to conduct screening of locals for infection,” said Assistant Municipal Commissioner Vaishali Jadhav.

The PMC has already drawn up a plan to contain ‘micro-cluster’ areas and contain the pandemic. Residents, given the status of Special Police Officers, have been deployed to ensure restrictions are ensured and social distancing norms are followed in micro-clusters. The SPOs provide essential services and create awareness about social distance management and lockdown norms.

“The number of ambulances and survey teams have also been increased in large numbers in these slum areas to check each and every resident for infection,” said another civic officer.