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No consensus among Pune district authorities on allowing maids to resume work
In a joint press conference held on Tuesday afternoon, Pune divisional commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar had allowed domestic maids in areas other than containment zones to function. However, Pune district collector Naval Kishore Ram countered the decision.
Even as Delhi has allowed domestic maids to resume work in the non-containment zones of the capital, there was no consensus among the Pune district authorities on whether maids should be allowed to resume work.
In a joint press conference held on Tuesday afternoon, Pune divisional commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar had allowed domestic maids in areas other than containment zones to function.
However, Pune district collector Naval Kishore Ram countered the decision by saying it will be difficult to identify if the maid is from containment zone or not and hence, their services will not be allowed.
Previously, Pune Municipal Commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad had said that domestic maids would be allowed to work with proper precautionary measures. Some corporators had also given approval for domestic maids to work.
“PMC commissioner in (May 5) today’s standing committee meeting approved all domestic maids to resume work, but with guidelines for housing societies such as getting a medical certificate from a doctor stating no symptoms for Covid-19, having the names of all domestic helpers on society letter head with stamp and medical certificate to be submitted at Kondhwa police station for approval,” said Nanda Narayan Lonkar, corporator, PMC.
However, many residential societies across the city are still apprehensive and are refusing entry to domestic helpers.
“We have 90 per cent of houses in 25 societies across Sopanbaug and we are not allowing any maids, even if the PMC tells us to,” Sachin Khandelwal, a resident of Sopanbaug said.
This situation repeated itself in many other areas too, where residents questioned the precautionary measures in place.
“Our society is not allowing maids to enter, the PMC commissioner allowed them to work after necessary precautionary measures. What and how to ensure it is not clear, none of the maids are silent carriers and are not positive if they cough,” Surendra Birje, a resident of Pashan said.
Due to the lack of proper written orders and no stated rules or medical protocol, the issue caused a lot of panic across residential societies.
“Societies don’t want the risk of allowing external persons inside their campus. The contact circle created by several domestic staff working in various homes in various societies across local areas is a huge risk,” Ravindra Sinha, a resident said.
Kalyani Phadnis, another resident, said that even if her society allows maids, she has informed her domestic help to not come to work until the first week of June.
“I have small kids at home and I am concerned not just for their safety but for the well-being of the family and of my maid. I have paid her for the month of May and told her to take care,” Phadnis said.
Sunita Salunkhe, a maid working in the Spicer road area calls her employers almost every week to find out when she can resume.
“I live close to the society that I work in, and though the employers have paid my salary for a month, I cannot just sit and wait for the next salary to come. My job is to clean homes and cook food and I feel bad for not doing any work. Once this salary is through, I will need money and we don’t know when we’d be able to resume work,” Salunkhe said.
