Six Bapu Dham pockets excluded from buffer zone

CHANDIGARH: After more than a month, residents of six pockets in Bapu Dham Colony, Sector 26, will be able to enter and exit their localities without any restrictions, as the Chandigarh administration has decided to exclude these from the buffer zone.

Out of the 20 pockets in the colony, pockets number 2, 3, 9, 17, 18 and 19 have been exempted from the perimeter control, and thus removed from the buffer zone.

More than 2,000 people live in these six pockets, while the total population of the colony is around 60,000.

After the first Covid-19 case was reported in the colony on April 24, the administration had declared two pockets as containment zones on May 2. As many as 18 pockets were declared as buffer zone on May 4. Buffer zone entails strict restrictions on the movement of people. With 225 infections, the colony accounts for 75% cases of the city.

NO CASE FROM THESE AREAS

Most of the positive cases from the colony have come from the containment zone and three pockets falling in the buffer zone.

The administration’s decision came after the affected area committee

set up to examine containment and buffer zones took up the issue on Monday.

“The issue was studied by a committee comprising MC commissioner, district magistrate, senior superintendent of police, director health services and a World Health Organisation representative. A considered view emerged that these six pockets falling within the buffer zone of Bapu Dham Colony have not suffered a single Covid-19 case to date, and thus could be exempted from perimeter control,” said a senior UT official.

After the recommendations of the committee, UT adviser Manoj Kumar Parida as the chairperson of the State Executive Committee of State Disaster Management Authority took the decision to remove these six pockets from the buffer zone. The regular screening and monitoring of the area by medical teams will continue.

BIG RELIEF FOR RESIDENTS

Local councillor Dalip Sharma welcomed the administration’s decision.

“It was high time for the administration to remove the tag of buffer zone from these six pockets. There was not a single case reported from these areas, but people were still kept under strict movement restrictions. People lost their jobs, and were under severe mental, financial and social stress,” he said.

The councillor had demanded removal of 13 pockets where no case has been reported from the buffer zone. “The administration has assured us they will take a call on the rest of the seven pockets very soon,” said Sharma.