Raj Nagar PWD Colony residents oppose q-centre

Nagpur: The state government employees living in Public Works Department Colony in Raj Nagar on Monday protested the quarantine centre being created in four apartments in their colony.
Family members of state government employees told TOI that converting four buildings comprising 64 flats in their colony into quarantine centre would expose them to coronavirus after nine quarantine people from these four blocks tested positive. “Instead of acquiring PWD quarters, the civic body should have used adjoining hostels of National Fire Engineering Service College,” they said.
PWD Colony in Raj Nagar has around 214 flats. Of these, kept four apartment blocks are kept vacant to make staying arrangements for staff coming for winter session of state’s legislature. About a month ago, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation acquired the four blocks and made it into quarantine centres.
A week ago, NMC had quarantined residents from Naik Talao-Bangladesh and Chandramani Nagar here. Now, nine persons staying here have tested positive for coronavirus triggering fear among the 164 families staying there.
Residents told TOI they had requested the executive engineer’s office of state PWD to choose another location for the centre or provide them with sanitisation options to keep them safe from coronavirus.
Senior PWD confirmed residents were opposing quarantine centre in PWD colony. The officials admitted there was also a threat for people residing in the adjoining Raj Nagar slum.
They said that neither the police nor the civic administration have barricaded the quarantine centre to separate it from residential area.
A senior NMC official explained the civic body was in a situation where it needed more and more centres to house the increasing number of Covid suspects. “If everyone keeps opposing centres in their locality, how will we work,” the official asked.