Allow bikes and rickshaws in drive-in vaccination centres, says Congress MLA Zeeshan Siddique

MUMBAI: Congress MLA from Bandra (East) Zeeshan Siddique has demanded that the BMC must allow bikes and auto rickshaws into drive-in vaccination centres.
“Many drive-in vaccination centres are being opened in Mumbai which is a positive step but many Mumbaikars don’t have the luxury of owning a car and so I have written to the BMC Commissioner to allow citizens on bikes & rickshaws also to get vaccinated following Covid norms!” Zeeshan tweeted on Thursday.
Following the success of its first drive-in vaccination centre within a civic parking lot in Dadar, the BMC had decided to set up one such facility for citizens above 60 years of age in the other six administrative zones too.
BMC commissioner I S Chahal, in his order issued last Thursday, listed a few options where such a drive-in vaccination facility could be created, including Andheri Sports Complex, Cooperage ground, Oval Maidan, MIG grounds, MCA grounds, Wankhede stadium, and Ghatkopar police grounds.
According to the directive, citizens aged above 60 can get their Covishield doses at the new facilities by appointment only. The beneficiary to be vaccinated should not drive to the centre; he/she should be accompanied by an attendant or a driver to deal with adverse events following immunization, if any.
Following positive reviews from people who got vaccinated at the Dadar drive-in centre, there was a demand for similar facilities across the city.
On May 4, in a first for the city, the multi-storey Kohinoor parking lot in Dadar was turned into a civic vaccination centre with a drive-in facility where senior citizens and the differently abled were given their jabs while seated in their parked vehicles. After getting their shots, they were made to spend the mandatory 30-minute observation period inside their vehicles as well. Citizens who brought in their vehicles had to pay parking charges—Rs 60 an hour.