Lack of uniformity in containment zones irks citizens

Nagpur: With corona cases coming from numerous localities, Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s (NMC) containment zone system is no longer uniform. The citizens have started to compare area of containment zones and raising objections.
In one cases that invited a lot of criticism, officials of NMC Dharampeth Zone did not barricade the area as per containment zone notified by municipal commissioner Tukaram Mundhe. The zone had been notified as per recommendations of Dharampeth Zone officials.
In another case, after two persons from a flat scheme at Ramdaspeth tested positive for Covid-19, Mundhe had notified two lanes as containment zone on June 22. The zone had 10 boundaries from A-H.
Ramdaspeth resident Sharad Paliwal, also secretary of NGO Swachh Association, told TOI, “My residence was marked B, with barricades to block road in front between A and B. Next barricade was to be after buildings marked C and D. But next barricade was also after my house. There are a few buildings after C and D till the turning, but they were excluded from the containment zone. This proves influential people have been left out.”
The epicentre is in another lane and not in the lane of Paliwal’s house.
On the other hand, on June 13, the civic body had notified containment zone at Shivaji Nagar when a woman from a flat scheme had tested positive. The zone comprised of only one flat.
Paliwal pointed out two persons who tested positive from Ramdaspeth are residents of one flat, but containment zone was far bigger.
The containment zone is closely watched as citizens inside face a lot of prohibitions for 28 days. They cannot move out with vehicles. Even for essential services, they have a pass system. People from outside also cannot enter the zone.
On June 4, a nurse at a private Dhantoli hospital tested positive, after being exposed to a patient. She and some other nurses were residing in the building at Bajaj Nagar. Five lanes with over 50 buildings were notified as containment zone though the nurse’s source of infection was identified clearly as the hospital.
Residents of Bajaj Nagar too complained of a larger area in containment zone as compared to Shivaji Nagar.
With 73 containment zones in existence in city, there is no uniformity in their demarcation.
Earlier, when cases were restricted to a few areas, a team led by additional chief medical officer Dr Praveen Gantawar used to demarcate containment zone, and there were no complaints. Now, zone offices demarcate containment, and there is no uniformity.
An official from NMC Dharampeth Zone assured to look into the Ramdaspeth case. “At Shivaji Nagar, the building was on 18-meter wide road connecting Shankar Nagar Square to Ram Nagar Square. Blocking it would have created problems,” he said.
Till last week of May, containment zones used to include all houses in one or more kilometres from the epicentre. The system was revised to mini-containment zone after changes in guidelines by the government, and experience of containment zones like Pandhrabodi, where cases were restricted only to one.