Despite several houses in Salt Lake being defined as micro-containment zones by the state health department and the North 24 Parganas district administration, most don’t have notices or guardrails in front of them defining them as containment areas.
The steady occurrence of fresh cases across Salt Lake and its adjoining areas, including Lake Town, Sreebhumi and places off Jessore Road, has prompted the district health administration to set up micro-containment zones in several areas falling under the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation.
According to a notification issued on November 1, four houses in CJ, FD, HA and GD blocks and an apartment in Karunamoyee Housing Estate’s A Block have been declared as micro-containment areas.
On Wednesday, The Telegraph Salt Lake went around the township and visited multiple houses that had been earmarked as micro-containment zones.
Most of the houses did not have any traffic guardrails, bamboo poles or any form of barriers to prevent the residents from stepping out of the house. Neither were there any policemen posted near any of these containment areas as well, a sight that was common in micro-containment zones in Salt Lake in June-July.
Cases in point were two houses in FD Block and HA Block which are listed as micro-containment zones on the government’s district-wise containment zone website. There were no traffic guardrails or even any signage outside the houses on Wednesday. Both were lit up with lights to ring in Diwali.
In Karunamoyee, too, there were no guardrails or even a notice to announce that an apartment in the block of flats had been declared as a containment zone.
Ranjan Poddar, a resident of Karunamoyee who stays near the flat, said that they were aware that several residents had tested positive for Covid-19.
“We know that they have tested positive and have asked them not to step out much. If they need anything we have told the family to get in touch with us,” said Poddar.
The only spot on Wednesday where a single traffic guardrail with a sign that read ‘Micro Containment Zone’ on it and had another notice pasted on its gate was in CJ Block.
A steady stream of fresh cases is being reported from every district in Bengal since the Pujas and on Wednesday at least 147 fresh Covid-19 cases were reported from North 24-Parganas. The figure stood at 245 from areas falling under the purview of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation, followed by 75 fresh cases in South 24-Parganas.
A section of public health experts said that people stepping out in thousands during the Durga Puja festivities and the long queues and crowds outside restaurants had contributed largely to the rise in the number of cases. “People had stepped out during the Pujas and most did not adhere to Covid-19 protocols due to which the number of cases are rising up exponentially now,” said Kusum Adhikari, the medical officer of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation.
“People are still crowding restaurants and eateries and visiting homes as the festive mood is yet to wear off. However the principal need of the hour is to mask up, maintain social distance and avoid crowds at all costs,” said the expert.
On October 25, in Salt Lake alone at least seven new micro-containment zones were identified in different blocks by the district administration. The figure stood at 43 for the entire district of North 24-Parganas.
According to the list of containment zones published by the state health and family welfare department on October 23, more than a dozen addresses in the planned township had been earmarked as micro-containment zones.
This time too the situation was similar and this newspaper could only spot a few printouts as notices announcing that the houses has been declared as a micro-containment zone. Many did not even sport one on their gates or boundary walls.
A CJ block resident, who lives next door to a house that has been identified as a micro-containment zone but now has been taken off the list as the 14-day period is over, said that they had no clue that their next door neighbours had come down with Covid-19 and the fact that their house has been declared as a micro-containment zone. “We had no idea. The notice they pasted too is barely legible,” said the resident who did not wish to be named.
A senior official of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation said that they had not set up guardrails and barricades in front of the houses as they did not want to instill a sense of panic and fear among the residents.
“We don’t want people to panic. We are keeping tabs on the micro containment zones and have requested the residents not to step out unless absolutely necessary,” said the official.
According to another official of the civic body, although people were barred from exiting their homes during the earlier lockdown, people would hardly comply.
“We used to get regular reports that even people who are down with coronavirus were going into the markets,” said the official.
Kumar Shankar Sadhu, a member of the Bidhannagar (Salt Lake) Residents’ Welfare Association, said that setting up such micro containment zones defied their purpose. “If people are allowed to move freely in and out if the containment areas then it doesn’t help anyone,” said Sadhu.
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