Mumbai: With the sudden spike of Covid-19 cases in several posh highrises and gated-societies in South Mumbai, several housing societies in Colaba, Cuffe Parade, Churchgate, Marine Drive and Nariman Point have gone into a self-imposed lockdown to keep the virus at bay. The lockdown involves stricter restrictions on the movement of members in and out of the premises, and on entry of domestic helps and visitors.
Some say the measures are necessary as more than 50 per cent of the residents of the ward are senior citizens. The issue is contentious as blanket restrictions thrust on residents could lead to confusion. BJP MLA of the Colaba constituency, Rahul Narwekar, said the state government must come out with a detailed SOP for cooperative housing societies for clarity. "There is no clear SOP issued for the functioning of cooperative societies, which has caused confusion among people. It's a good thing that residents are trying to tackle the virus on their own, but the state government must have thought of rolling out SOPs for societies,” said Narwekar, adding, “There is a sudden spike in the number of cases because there is no proper plan to decide what to open and what not to open."
Marine Drive’s Girikunj building, which has nearly 100 residents, has started to follow a week-long self-imposed lockdown. "Two domestic helps in the building tested positive. We decided to follow a self-imposed lockdown as a precautionary measure,” said Rajiv Shah, co-landlord of the building.
"The lockdown will last till July 26. We will assess and take a call on further action,” said Shah.
The buildings are being voluntarily sealed, while the premises are being sanitised regularly by the residents using disinfectant chemicals. As a precautionary measure, domestic helps are also not being allowed to enter the building premises in some cases. In others, each domestic help is barred from visiting more than one apartment in the society for work.
Some of the buildings have commercial entities on their ground floors, which too have decided to follow the lockdown rules. Residents of Marine Drive's Cleveland building have also begun a self-imposed lockdown since mid-July. "More than 60 buildings in A ward have been sealed. Most of the residents living here are senior citizens. So if we don’t get active right now, this can cause severe fatality in the times to come,” said Ramesh, a resident.
"The sudden spike has been caused by the return of house help and drivers. Most of them were in their villages and joined service directly without health check-ups,” said Ashok Gupta, vice-president, Marine Drive Citizen's Association.
