After domestic helps, residents’ bodies want guidelines on movement of guests

With domestic air travel likely to resume soon and some special trains running operations already, local residents’ bodies are waiting for guidelines from the administration

With domestic air travel likely to resume soon and some special trains running operations already, local residents’ bodies are waiting for guidelines from the administration on what procedures to follow for guests that come to the district.

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While the district administration has allowed every resident welfare association (RWA) to take an independent call on the entry of domestic helpers inside the society’s premises with the consensus of the residents, officials are yet to specify norms on the movement of guests especially for those coming from outside the district and the state.

“Movement of outsiders, except for those engaged in essential services, is completely barred in the society. A girl who was studying in Agra recently came back to her home here; such cases are fine and should be allowed to come back home, but we have asked all residents to not entertain any guests. In fact, we had a scare a few days ago when a flat owner in the area got his staff to stay here for self-quarantine without informing anyone from the RWA,” said Sanjeev Kumar, president, Sector 51 RWA said.

Kumar said in such cases, clear guidelines will go a long way.

“We have sanitisers and thermal screeners at the main gate of the sector and each guest is thoroughly screened. The movement of people in and out of the sector is very less right now, but with the relaxations in domestic travel, it may increase soon. We definitely need some guidelines on how to handle the movement of people in such a scenario. We have even raised the issue with senior officials during webinars,” said NP Singh, president, District Development Resident Welfare Association (DDRWA).

In case of any kind of long-distance travel, officials have repeatedly advised people to go under self-quarantine for at least 14 days. They have also stressed on travelling only in case of emergency, while local travel is allowed only for essential purposes during the lockdown.

“If it is some sort of a family health emergency and people are coming from outside, it is humane to let them return home. However, using a residential area for quarantine is not completely right. Ideally, people coming from outside should opt for institutional quarantine,” said chief executive officer of Greater Noida authority, Narendra Bhooshan, who is also the nodal officer for the district for efforts to control Covid-19 spread.

Many residents’ bodies are requesting residents to notify them of any guests that they host in their homes.

“Guests are not ideally allowed, and there are certain guidelines already in place for people travelling with necessary passes. Within the district, only people from non-containment zones are allowed to move around, and we request residents to inform us in advance if any outsider is going to stay with them. We also hope that as domestic travel picks up pace, we receive some guidelines from the administration,” said Rajiva Singh, president, Noida Federation of Apartment Owners Associations (NOFAA).