KOLKATA: Several businessmen operating in the commercial hub of central Kolkata are not informing their market associations after testing positive for Covid-19, leading to a strange problem for the local administration that is unable to get help from the civic body and the cops for containment measures.
The councillors of wards in Burrabazar, Posta, Brabourne Road, Canning Street and Mahatma Gandhi Road have started requesting the associations in different markets to sensitize their members on why the information is important to assess the exact status of the virus and to take preventive measures.
“There have been several cases where businessmen in Burrabazar have tested positive and they have provided the address of their residence at the hospital during treatment. Now, the local councillors and the local police station in Burrabazar are not getting to know about this,. Consequently, we are not being able to take measures like sanitization, contact tracing and shutting down the markets or portions of it,” said Kishan Jhawar of Ward 42.
This is also creating difficulty for the local elected representatives and the police to ascertain the actual status of the virus transmission, preventing them from declaring any particular pocket as a containment zone. Last week, both Nandaram Market and Tiretta Market were sealed after traders tested positive.
“If we receive reports of positive cases from a particular market or a lane, we can seal it and sanitize it properly and determine why it is spreading in that particular area. But since the traders are only providing their residential addresses, it is becoming difficult for us to locate the affected pockets,” said Santosh Pathak, co-ordinator of Ward 45.
The commercial hub spreads over five wards of 18, 21, 22, 23, 42, 45, including areas like Posta, Burrabazar, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Kalakar Street, Rabindra Sarani, Brabourne Road, Canning street and parts of Mechhua.
“The severe lockdown helped in bringing down the cases but currently, we are facing problem in getting data about which pocket is affected because most traders are not informing us about testing positive,” said an officer of Burrabazar police station.
The councillors of wards in Burrabazar, Posta, Brabourne Road, Canning Street and Mahatma Gandhi Road have started requesting the associations in different markets to sensitize their members on why the information is important to assess the exact status of the virus and to take preventive measures.
“There have been several cases where businessmen in Burrabazar have tested positive and they have provided the address of their residence at the hospital during treatment. Now, the local councillors and the local police station in Burrabazar are not getting to know about this,. Consequently, we are not being able to take measures like sanitization, contact tracing and shutting down the markets or portions of it,” said Kishan Jhawar of Ward 42.
This is also creating difficulty for the local elected representatives and the police to ascertain the actual status of the virus transmission, preventing them from declaring any particular pocket as a containment zone. Last week, both Nandaram Market and Tiretta Market were sealed after traders tested positive.
“If we receive reports of positive cases from a particular market or a lane, we can seal it and sanitize it properly and determine why it is spreading in that particular area. But since the traders are only providing their residential addresses, it is becoming difficult for us to locate the affected pockets,” said Santosh Pathak, co-ordinator of Ward 45.
The commercial hub spreads over five wards of 18, 21, 22, 23, 42, 45, including areas like Posta, Burrabazar, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Kalakar Street, Rabindra Sarani, Brabourne Road, Canning street and parts of Mechhua.
“The severe lockdown helped in bringing down the cases but currently, we are facing problem in getting data about which pocket is affected because most traders are not informing us about testing positive,” said an officer of Burrabazar police station.
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