Central team visits Dharavi, advises to improve testing, add quarantine facilities

The five-member inter-ministerial central team (IMCT) on Wednesday visited densely populated Dharavi, one of the Covid-19 hotspots in the city, to assess the situation.

The five-member inter-ministerial central team (IMCT) on Wednesday visited densely populated Dharavi, one of the Covid-19 hotspots in the city, to assess the situation.

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The team advised the Maharashtra government to increase the number of people in institutional quarantine by ramping up the bed strength from existing 1,200 to 3,000 and to conduct more aggressive testing. State public health minister Rajesh Tope, accompanied the team headed by Manoj Joshi, additional secretary, Union ministry of food processing industries, to Dharavi.

Tope said that the central team had advised increasing both testing and quarantine facilities in the congested slums. “I have personally told [BMC] commissioner Praveen Pardeshi that quarantine facilities in the area should be increased. We will increase the facility to 2,000 beds. We’ll put up tents, if required, to quarantine people,” Tope said.

Dharavi on Wednesday recorded nine more Covid-19 cases taking the tally in the area to 189 positive cases. The area has recorded 12 deaths so far. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) authorities said that around 40,000 people from the congested slums have been screened in the last seven days. The area has been divided into five containment zones. Tope added that the containment strategy has been “mostly successful” and the cases are not increasing in the area.

Rahul Shewale, Shiv Sena MP from the area, said, the team also advised setting up an independent testing facility for Dharavi. However, the BMC has not decided on having a separate testing facility.

Tope, however, said that the BMC would start the stricter implementation of protocols. “Testing will also be increased in the area,” he said.

The central team lauded the measures adopted by the state government in Dharavi, but expressed concern over an imminent spike in the number of cases, said a senior BMC official.

“The team expects that the spike in the number of new cases could occur anytime soon,” the senior official added. The officer said that the team suggested that there should be 10 quarantine beds for every 1,000 people in Dharavi.