Coronavirus lockdown: Keeping them safe, with a market in society

Even as several societies are taking steps to ensure that residents can avail essential commodities while maintaining social distancing norms, a housing complex

Even as several societies are taking steps to ensure that residents can avail essential commodities while maintaining social distancing norms, a housing complex in Bhandup (West) with 2,152 flats has set up its own farmers’ market inside the complex to ensure that residents do not have to step out during the lockdown.

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One of the largest housing complexes in the eastern suburbs, Dreams Complex which houses around 8,500 residents across 20-storey towers in seven housing societies, has also taken up the ‘pigeon hole’ concept, using which all essential supplies are dropped into a small opening below every building for easy access to citizens. Next to these ‘pigeon holes’, at the entrance and common area of every building, the societies have constructed a wash basin and placed sanitisers for residents and security staff to sanitise all essentials before taking them into homes.

To monitor the movement of any person or vehicle entering or exiting a building premise, the housing complex uses a mobile application ‘My Gate’, which is accessible to all the residents.

“The lockdown is a difficult period for everyone, and we want to ensure least amount of inconvenience for residents. As the entry of vendors and delivery persons is restricted, from March 24 we began the famers’ market. One vegetable vendor has been asked to strictly follow the protocol of sanitising hands before beginning the sale of vegetables at the common area. At the same time, to main social distancing, residents stand in a queue, at a 2-metre distance from each other to purchase vegetables in an organised manner,” Paresh Ardekar, managing committee member of the complex, said.

Secretaries from each of the seven societies have been visiting senior citizens and those living alone to check on their requirements. “Residents above 60 years do not need to leave their flats for any work. We have been collecting a list of grocery and other essential commodities from each tower every day and have been placing bulk orders with large vendors. For instance, on March 27, we placed a collective order from 42 different flats and coordinated with residents,” said Suraj Suvarna, secretary of Dreams Building 2.

The security staff of the complex stays in the quarters within the premises. All guests and house helps looking after senior citizens entering the premises undergo thermal screening from a temperature gun. “There are about 20 such helpers who are being allowed to enter the society as some residents need assistance and thus we can’t ban their entry. However, all other domestic help and staffers has been stopped, but we ensured that each of them was sent on paid leave,” said Ardekar.

All buildings in the complex, stairs, common areas, and lifts are sanitised once in a day using sodium hypochlorite solution. The lifts are operated by one person wearing gloves and a mask. The swimming pool, gym, and common areas have been temporarily shut down.

“For urgent services such as hospitalisation, we have shared important numbers with the security staff and residents,” said Suvarna.