Ramprastha colony sealed 8 days after woman tested Covid positive

In an alleged case of laxity, the district administration took more than a week to seal an area of Ramprastha Colony, after a woman living in the area tested positive

In an alleged case of laxity, the district administration took more than a week to seal an area of Ramprastha Colony, after a woman living in the area tested positive for Covid-19.

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According to norms, an area is to be sealed within 24 hours of a positive case being detected.

Officials on Monday also said that they had issued notices to three highrises and sought their response over certain directions issued by their respective RWAs.

In connection to the Ramprastha Colony issue, a 43 year-old-woman from the area had tested positive on May 1. But the sealing of the area was allegedly taken up a week later, on May 9, as per directions issued by additional city magistrate Devendra Pal Singh, who is also the incident commander of the assigned area.

“It was probably after someone called up and informed the officials that they arrived to seal the area on May 9. Restrictions had been put in place before the sealing and one back gate of the colony had been locked,” said AK Gupta, a resident.

The residents said that about 100-125 houses are affected due to sealing.

Additional city magistrate Devendra Pal Singh, however, claimed that he issued directions for sealing as soon as he received the written information from the health department.

“We issued the order of the sealing only when we received the letter from the health department. There was probably some delay on part of the health department in issuing the order. The total houses affected could be about 12-15, as per our estimates,” he said.

Chief medical officer of the district, Dr NK Gupta, said that the sanitization of the areas is to be taken up immediately once a patient is identified as Covid-19 positive. The area is to be sealed immediately.

“We issue the order to request sealing on same day or the next day. We will probe to find out when the order was sent to the administration officials,” he added.

Meanwhile, the district administration on Monday also issued a statement stating that they have issued notices to three highrises — Gaur Green Avenue, Apartment Owners Association of Neelpdam Kunj and River Heights Phase-1 — after they allegedly issued some orders which were beyond their purview.

Subodh Tyagi, the president of the River Heights Phase-1 apartment owners’ association (AOA) said that they had put up notices in their society in which they had threatened to levy penalty of Rs 11,000 against anyone who brings in outsiders in side the society, which has 750 flats.

The notice put up by the AOA also said that in case the penalty is not deposited, the light and water connection of the resident may be disconnected

“We simply put up a notice as a deterrent and have not collected any fine till date. The notice was put up as people have been bringing their relatives, friends and outsiders, whose health status we don’t know. They also misbehave with the guards. We have sent a communication to the district magistrate and sought his permission to implement the order,” Tyagi said.

“But there has been no response till date. What do we do if the infection spreads in the highrise? ,” he added.

The RWA of Gaur Green Avenue also said that they will speak to the district magistrate about the notice.

“We have put up certain restrictions about entry of domestic helps and milk vendors. Some resident might have complained. We will speak to the administration,” said Deep Pant, secretary of Gaur Green Avenue RWA.

A notice was also issued to Apartment Owners Association of Neelpdam Kunj. Office bearers of Neelpdam Kunj association said the notice might be due to an earlier letter issued by them, which was based on an “appeal” issued by CMO and the municipal-commissioner.

In their letters, the two officials had asked the zonal in-charges to get in touch with the respective RWAs and councillor and request doctors and healthcare workers, working in Delhi, to restrict their movements to Delhi.

“The matter was resolved after a detailed meeting by district magistrate along with Indian Medical Association u=in which we were present there. Our communication was withdrawn on the same day. It was based on an appeal issued by the CMO. We will approach the administration about the notice issued,” said Ram Tiwari, president of the board of managers of the association.

District magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey did not respond to calls and chose not to reply to a detailed query sent to him about the issue.

The members of the federation of association of apartment owners said that they had written letter to the district magistrate last week and sought directions for entry or restricting activities of domestic-helps, plumbers, technicians etc among other points.

“The Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate had issued certain guidelines in this regard but no such guidelines have been issued in Ghaziabad. It is because there is no clarity from the administration, the RWAs or the AOAs are forming their own set of directions which are creating confusion,” he added.