Patna municipality uses two-pronged strategy to contain Covid-19

On the front of implementation of Covid-19 norms, the district administration has sealed 17 shops and seized 92 vehicles, collecting a sum of ₹3.21 lakh in penalty for flouting Covid-19 guidelines between March 16 and April 10.

Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) has stepped up its sanitisation drive and awareness campaign on the importance of Covid-19 vaccination amid a rise in infections in the state, said municipality officials.

Patna is the worst-affected city in the state with 1,382 cases detected on Sunday. (HT Photo)

“The vaccination centres are getting high footfalls as PMC staff members are creating awareness in different parts of the city,” said municipality commissioner Himanshu Sharma. He added that the door-to-door garbage pick-up vans will play catchy jingles prepared by the health department to motivate those above 45 years of age to get the vaccine shot. The initiative comes during the four-day long Tika Utsav- a special Covid-19 vaccination drive launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday.

PMC is running vaccination centres in all the six circle offices in the state capital, covering the entire city population including the slums and has laid out a plan to intensify the campaign to mobilise people for vaccination in the coming week. For the last one week, 700 to 800 vaccine doses have been administered on an average at the six centres at Azimabad, New Capital, Patliputra, Kankarbagh, Nutan and Bankipore circle. Bihar reported 2697 fresh infections on Sunday to take the number of active cases in the state to 14,696. Patna is the worst-affected city in the state with 1,382 cases detected on Sunday, taking the capital’s Covid tally to 60,875, as per the government data.

On the front of implementation of Covid-19 norms, the district administration has sealed 17 shops and seized 92 vehicles, collecting a sum of ₹3.21 lakh in penalty for flouting Covid-19 guidelines between March 16 and April 10, said a district official.

The PMC says it is using all 20 jetting machines and 300 small, hand-held spraying machines for sanitisation of public places, restaurants, containment zones, slums and residential areas.

In Patliputra circle, the sanitisation drive was carried out at Bans Ghat, Kotwali police station, Rajbanshi Nagar and government residences. In Nutan circle, Patna Junction, Dak Bungalow, Bailey Road and Boring Road localities were sanitised.

“Our prime focus is to sanitise the crowded places. We are also spraying disinfecting solutions on those establishments and houses which have been marked as Covid-19 infected zones by the district administration to protect the locals from getting infected,” said Harshita, PMC public relation officer.

Another senior PMC official said that the intensified disinfection drive had increased workload on sanitisation staff.

“We can’t halt the routine work. We have divided the cleaning team in groups for sanitisation, door-to-door garbage collection. Another team has been dedicated to unclogging sewage and manholes before April 30 as a part of pre-monsoon preparations,” said the official on condition of anonymity.

Pankaj Singh, a resident near SK Puri colony, however, rued, “Despite regular public use, ATMs are not being sanitised. Garbage collection has become infrequent and untimely.”