BHUBANESWAR: The residents of Surya Nagar and Bomikhal, the two restricted zones of the city, are worried about the supply of essentials. More than 24 hours after entry and exit to the two areas were sealed adequate measures are yet to be put in place to meet the emergency needs of locals. Though supply of essentials will remain suspended in adherence to the total shutdown orders by Government till 8 pm on Sunday, the residents of the two areas said they are clueless about the delivery services during the containment period after Sunday night.
“I am unable to figure out how to manage my family’s dietary requirements as vegetable and grocery stores in our area are likely to remain closed even after 48 hours shutdown period. I have no idea about the timing of delivery of essentials by BMC and how to place order for the same,” said Sangita Manjari Mishra, a resident of Bomikhal Jaydurga Nagar area. Some people also stated that the lack of home delivery facility would make things even difficult for them.
At Surya Nagar where a 60-year-old was detected positive, the residents are at a loss on how to manage during the period. “We were told on Friday that we would get deliveries on Saturday so we didn’t stock up on any perishables or even essentials like milk. On Saturday, we were informed that deliveries would be made on Monday only. This was disturbing as had consciously bought less on Friday relying on the information,” said Chandra Sekhar of Surya Nagar. However, data collection teams visited the families in the area twice, he added. With a senior citizen at home, Sekhar is worried as they were not even alerted about the persons who came in contact with the positive person.
Another resident Suresh Sahoo, a physically challenged man said the area behind LIC office where he lives with his family of 8 and two tenant families, has not been sanitised and essentials have not reached their area. “As the decision to seal the area was sudden, we had not prepared and have no stock of milk or vegetables for the 3 little kids and 4 senior citizens on the premises,” he said.
Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has notified both the areas as containment/restricted zones and blocked all entry and exit points. All essential services to the areas have been suspended for 14 days after positive cases of COVID-19 were found from the localities. Though the civic body has asked people not to panic and stay indoors, people are worried about supply of essentials, including medicines.
To address the issue, BMC has roped in five teams for distribution of groceries, vegetables and other essentials. It has also formed more than 40 medical teams each comprising a health and an anganwadi worker. However, people are clueless as to how they will buy these essentials from the delivery teams as their contact numbers have not been shared.
A senior official of Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited and in-charge of supply of essentials to households in the containment zones said as per the Government order only BMC will facilitate supply of essentials to households in both the localities till the restrictions are imposed. He said home delivery of food, grocery, vegetables and other essentials have been restricted to block unnecessary movement of people in these localities which otherwise will serve no purpose of containment.
After the shutdown ends on Sunday 8 pm, essentials will be delivered between 8 am and 11 am and 5.30 pm and 7.30 pm in the restricted zones. There will be also be mike announcement for the same, he said.