BMC starts bldg ‘seal’ deal in Borivali to combat virus

So far 858 buildings in 'R' central (C) ward in North Mumbai are sealed

The ' R' central (C) ward, situated at the suburban belt of North Mumbai, presently has the highest number of sealed buildings in the entire city. Nearly 858 buildings in this area have been sealed, while only 11 slum areas have been identified as containment zones in this area.

Considering the severe spurt in the number of cases from the high rises, BMC officials passed out a circular stating when there is a positive case from any residential complex or gated society, the entire building will be sealed completely instead of partially sealing off the floors. “Keeping the high risk contacts in home quarantine has become difficult for both doctors and the BMC. People roam in the society premises despite knowing they are at high risk,” said Assistant Municipal Commissioner and

Ward Officer - R central (C), Bhagyashree Kapse.

She added that to contain the spread of virus, BMC will now seal the entire building.

The R central ward covers the areas of Borivali. Currently, it has 1,455 active cases and a total of 5112 cases. The growth rate of RC ward is 1.7 percent which is higher than the average growth rate of entire Mumbai (1.02 per cent). The doubling period stands at 41 days.

A ward officer said that in the last four months more than 4,000 cases have come out from the buildings, while only 782 cases were from the slums. She also mentioned that in the last 20 days, 98 per cent of the fresh cases were from highrises and gated societies. “The civic body has given the responsibility to the office bearers of the societies. People need to be disciplined and have a sense of responsibility. Unless the fight

against the pandemic becomes a community movement the spread can't be curtailed,” the ward officer said.

Congress Corporator of RC ward, Bhushan Patil stated that people’s indiscipline has led to this crisis. “People are still roaming without masks. The doctors and civic officials are doing whatever they can, but the people need to be responsible as well,” Patil said.

The BMC has stated that the sealed buildings are supposed to follow all containment measures strictly. The civic body highlighted that maids, laundry workers and grocery vendors are not to be allowed in the buildings. "We have spread the new guidelines of the BMC among the residents of our buildings and other citizenship groups through WhatsApp and Twitter," said Anmol Parulkar, general secretary of Borivali's Crescent Towers.