BMC war rooms to answer non-Covid queries too

The respective ward war room will also help Mumbaiites with non-health queries related to solid waste management, fumigation and sewerage cleaning etc

Mumbai As Covid cases in the city are on a decline, the ward war rooms that were created by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to help resolve issues like getting beds, will now help with other non-Covid related issues.

They also helped in following up with the international passengers landing in Mumbai and testing them for Covid (Bachchan Kumar/ HT PHOTO)

The respective ward war room will also help Mumbaiites with non-health queries related to solid waste management, fumigation and sewerage cleaning etc.

Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner, said, “The city has less cases of Covid and therefore, the war rooms are getting fewer calls. Ward war rooms have proved to be a success during the pandemic. We have therefore decided to utilise the service in solving other issues of Mumbaikars.”

Initially, the BMC had a dedicated 1916 number for Covid queries. It was in April 2020 that the dedicated ward war rooms were started to assist citizens with beds and ambulances. They also helped in following up with the international passengers landing in Mumbai and testing them for Covid.

Kakani said that the war rooms decentralised work in the pandemic. “We managed to resolve the issues faster. The same model will now help citizens address their complaints regarding sewerage cleaning, fumigations, solid waste management and health-related issues along with Covid,” he said.

Presently, the city has 345 active cases, out of which 276 patients are asymptomatic and 19 are critical. Of the 2,150 ICU beds, BMC data shows 57 are occupied. “As on date, we have zero active containment zones in slums and chawls and zero active sealed buildings or micro-containment zones. Currently, the city has 3,632 people in home quarantine,” said a BMC health officer.

The war room works in three shifts and has a doctor in each one. The telephone operators are working on the verification process pertaining to disbursing ₹50,000 as ex-gratia to the kin of Covid victims, apart from answering queries.

Amit Gurav, data operator manning the F-North (Wadala, Sion, Matunga) ward-war room of BMC, said that there is a drastic fall in number of calls. “In January, we got as many as 1,000 calls a day. Now, on an average, we get 50 calls or less. People still call the war rooms to know if they need to do RT-PCR and if the symptoms are related to Covid,” he said.