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Ghaziabad: Khoda ‘sealed’ to contain spread of Covid-19; thousands stuck
The Ghaziabad administration on Sunday afternoon decided to barricade 50 of the 52 entry/exit points in Khoda that lead to Delhi and NCR, restricting the movement
The Ghaziabad administration on Sunday afternoon decided to barricade 50 of the 52 entry/exit points in Khoda that lead to Delhi and NCR, restricting the movement of all general public not involved in providing essential services.
The move, officials said, was necessitated in the wake of rising number of Covid-19 cases which have emerged from Khoda since April 22.
“We have 52 entry/exit points in Khoda, which lead to Delhi, Ghaziabad and Noida. Only two point — ‘Gajji Bhati Dwar, which opens near Ghazipur in Delhi and Vir Vijay Singh Pathik Dwar which opens at NH-9 — will remain open, while the rest have been barricaded and police deployed. The decision was taken in order to check the spread of Covid-19 cases. Otherwise, the problem could have become major, considering Khoda’s population and demography,” said KK Bhadana, the executive officer of Khoda Nagar Palika.
According to estimates, Khoda is spread across an area of about 5 square kilometres and is located between Noida, Ghaziabad and adjoining Delhi. Officials said Khoda’s population is about 2.85 lakh but it’s estimated that the actual population may be more than 4 lakh.
“No entry/exit will be allowed to and from Khoda. Only personnel involved in providing essential services will be allowed through the two points that are open. There are five police posts and it has been decided that police will identify and allow entry of vendors by giving them special passes Inside Khoda, grocery shops and those selling milk and vegetables will be allowed to open till 4pm, while medicine shops will be allowed to open 24x7,” he added.
According to health department officials, Khoda has seen about 15 cases since April 22.
Khoda also figures in the list of category 1 (area having at least one positive case and bound by 400 metres of perimeter area) and category 2 (area having more than one positive cases and bound by a perimeter of about 1km) containment zones in Ghaziabad. Rajiv Vihar, Indira Garden and Shiv Park areas of Khoda figure in the list of category 1 containment zones, while Hayat Nagar figures in the list of category 2 containment zone.
Hindustan Times had on May 9 had reported on the rising number of Covid-19 cases in Khoda.
Khoda serves a vital link to the three neighbouring cities of Delhi, Ghaziabad and Noida and most of its populace work as workers, as domestic helps or are engaged in small time jobs in these three cities
“Joining work will become difficult now. I work in a small private company in Noida and somehow managed to come back home after work today in a vehicle that was headed to Khoda. I have told my office that I may not be able to join from Monday due to the sealing,” said Gopal Dixit, a resident of Prem Vihar , who works at as a security guard at a company in Noida Sector-58.
“I also told my office that I may not be able to come to work from Monday. My office people told that they cannot help me in this regard. Even inside Khoda, there is no free movement as small lanes and bylanes have been barricaded,” said Arun Kumar, another resident who works as daily wager at a company in Sector-65, Noida.
According to executive officer Bhadana, an estimated 20,000 people from Khoda go to delhi, Noida nad ghaziabad to work daily. Around 1.5 lakh people from Khoda, he said, had already left for their hometowns after the lockdown was announced.
District magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey and sub-divisional magistrate Aditya Prajapati did not respond to calls for a comment on the issue.
“Khoda has not been sealed as such. There are many people who work in Noida . They have been told to stay at their places of work. Noida being in the Red zone, their inter-district movement has been stopped. They can go to Ghaziabad as it is an Orange zone. If they wish to go to Noida, their factory owners will have to provide transportation services. They cannot again go to Delhi as it is also in Red zone,” said Manish Mishra, superintendent of police (city).
