Lockdown: Special slots for elderly to buy groceries at Thane society

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Edenwoods Co-operative Housing Society Limited at Thane, biometric access at the entry of around five buildings, have been disabled for more than three weeks now. The management has also provided special slots for the elderly to buy groceries.

Currently, vegetables are being ordered twice a week for all the residents. They are asked to come in slots to a particular spot near the clubhouse to purchase their essentials. However, a separate slot is allotted for senior citizens, so that they don’t have to stand in a queue.

“Very few of them step out of the complex to buy groceries. We have also tied up with a supermarket to deliver products. We have kept special slots for senior citizens as we did not want to cause inconvenience to them, we have kept special slots for them,” said TN Raghunathan, secretary of the housing federation.

The management has also disabled the biometric access as a precautionary measure to rule out the possibility of contracting the virus by touching the surface.

“Some of the most common surfaces where people are expected to touch frequently, such as lift buttons, are being sanitised over three to four times a day. Earlier, the biometric was suspended only during the morning hours, but then we decided that it should be completely suspended,” said Raghunathan.

The federation consists of 18 housing societies and one commercial building, comprising 800 flats, and more than 3,500 residents.

Office bearers of the federation said that they needed to shut all the common areas such as football court, swimming pool and gymnasium, among others, as soon as the state government had asked such facilities to be shut.

Currently, the residents have been requested to not even step down for walks, even though social distancing norms are being followed. “A case of a family being tested positive was reported from a nearby building, which is when we had to put in place stringent measures. Even those who had come from abroad, were asked to stay quarantined for 14 days,” said an office-bearer of the federation.