KDMC stays decision to keep out locals working in Mumbai

Pradeep Gupta | TNN | Updated: May 6, 2020, 17:10 IST

KDMC workers spray disinfectant amid a nationwide lockdown, to curb the spread of Covid-19 in Kalyan.

KALYAN: A day after Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) and Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation decided to deny entry to local residents employed in essential services in Mumbai and residing in Kalyan-Dombivli and Ulhasnagar limits from May 8, both corporations issued fresh order on Wednesday staying their order passed on Tuesday.
In a fresh press note issued on Wednesday, Kalyan-Dombivli municipal commissioner Dr Vijay Suryawanshi said that he was holding his decision taken on May 5 unless government and other private offices engaged in essential services provided accommodation facilities to their employees in Mumbai. Until then the decision has been kept on hold, he added.
On Tuesday, KDMC commissioner had said that 73 of the 224 patients in Kalyan-Dombivli were those who worked in Mumbai, while 28 others infected were their close contacts. He had requested employers and government agencies to make arrangements of employees residing in KDMC limits for their stay in the city saying they would not be allowed to enter KDMC limits from May 8.
The KDMC, meanwhile, have asked such employees to submit their details with civic body. Neighbouring Ulhasnagar municipal corporation, Ambernath municipal council and Badlapur-Kulgaon municipal council had also passed similar orders on Tuesday, which they withdrew on Wednesday.
Sources from civic body said that chiefs of these councils were slammed by higher authorities in the state as most of people working in essential services in Mumbai reside in these areas due to affordable housings and restricting such staff to enter the city could have affected the fight against Covid-19 .