Gautam Budh Nagar administration to issue limited passes to private service providers

The Gautam Budh Nagar administration said it will issue limited passes to private service providers from Thursday to ensure smooth delivery of essential services

The Gautam Budh Nagar administration said it will issue limited passes to private service providers from Thursday to ensure smooth delivery of essential services in the district after the national lockdown to contain the coronavirus pandemic was announced.

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Top officials said, in the beginning, they will issue at least 500 passes to ensure that they are not misused. If the needed arises, more passes will be issued, they added.

The move comes after the Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath Wednesday directed the administration of every district to ensure doorstep delivery of essential goods.

“The supply of all essential goods will continue uninterrupted with immediate effect so that residents do not suffer and stay at home during the lockdown. All emergency services such as hospitals, medical stores, petrol pumps and other outlets will continue to function,” BN Singh, district magistrate, Gautam Budh Nagar, said.

From March 25 to April 14, doorstep delivery agents that supply milk, vegetables, groceries, medicines and other essential goods will be allowed to function from 6am to 11pm.

Officials of the Noida authority said the authority will facilitate home delivery service providers and will ensure they are able to deliver essential goods such as milk and vegetables without any hassle.

Many residents had complained about not being able to get food and other essential items Wednesday morning.

On Wednesday, in a meeting held at the district magistrate camp office, DM BN Singh, commissioner of police Alok Singh and top officials of Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway authorities prepared a roadmap to ensure the smooth delivery of essential goods to the residents. Officials said at least 100 private service providers, including e-commerce companies, were also present at the meeting.

Additional chief executive officer of Noida authority, Praveen Mishra, additional chief executive officer of Greater Noida authority, Deep Chand and Bhatia officer on special duty, Yamuna Expressway authority, Shailendra Bhatia, have been assigned the responsibility of issuing the passes in their respective jurisdictions apart from ensuring private service providers are allowed to deliver good to group housings, sectors and villages without much hassle. The passes can be collected from the offices of the three authorities.

“We will start issuing passes to private service from Thursday. Private vendors will continue to deliver goods at homes and we will ensure that this happens without any hassle. We will monitor their work as well,” Mishra said.

Legal action will be taken for any misuse of the passes.

E-commerce vendors such as Zomato, Swiggy, Grofers, Reliance Fresh, Big Bazaar, among others, will be able to make doorstep deliveries in Noida and Greater Noida, officials said.

For around 88 villages in the Yamuna Expressway area, chief development officer Anil Kumar Singh will issue passes and ensure the delivery of essential goods. Vendors working in these villages can collect the passes from the Greater Noida office of the district magistrate, Vikas Bhawan.

“Once these passes are issued to different service providers, the administration and the police will coordinate to ensure that the pass holding agents can deliver services without any issue,” Singh said.

The Noida authority also said that during the lockdown, a team of 5,000 staff members will work on essential services such as waste management, water supply, and sewer management. The team will also monitor if vegetables, milk and other goods are being supplied to residents hassle-free or not.

Spread over 20,000 hectares, there are at least 100 residential sectors in Noida.

Meanwhile, the Noida authority on Wednesday disinfected and sanitised the Phase 2 vegetable market.

“We sanitised the vegetable market using hypochlorite, so that those visit the market do not expose themselves to any risk,” SC Mishra, senior project engineer, Noida authority, said.