Fire dept sanitises Tablighi Jamaat HQ in Nizamuddin, adjoining areas

nNEWDELHI: Firefighters on Thursday sprayed thousands of gallons of disinfectant in south Delhi’s Nizamuddin and adjoining areas, which has emerged as the singlelargest source of the Covid-19 across India.

A six-storey building — the Tablighi Jamaat headquarters — has emerged as the biggest Covid-19 hot spot in India so far, with at least 182 people from there testing positive for Covid-19 in the Capital alone, and more than xx in hospital for showing Covidlike symptoms. More than 1,810 people who attended the congregation have been placed in quarantine in the city.

Senior officers from the fire department said Nizamuddin is the first hot spot they were tasked with sanitising and the exercise will be carried out in other parts of the city as well, if required.

Atul Garg, director, Delhi Fire Service (DFS), said on Thursday that his team had sanitised the building (markaz) in Nizamuddin, the lanes surrounding the building and other adjoining residential areas.

“We sprayed at least two fire trucks full of disinfectants. One fire tender usually carries 10,000 litres of water mixed with sodium hypochlorite. On Thursday, we sprayed at least 5,000 gallon of disinfectant,” he said.

Garg added that they sprayed disinfectant on shutters of shut shops, footpaths, walls, parked vehicles and other buildings in the vicinity.

On Wednesday, in a meeting with the chief secretary and top bureaucrats in Delhi, lieutenant governor Anil Baijal had directed that the fire department be used in carrying out a disinfection drive in Covid-19 hotspot clusters, quarantine centres and vulnerable public places in the city.

Garg said that even though the department is handling such a situation for the first time, they are fully prepared. “At present we have four dedicated teams, each having one fire tender. If need be, more teams will be pressed into action,” he said, adding that his men have been provided with adequate safety gear.