PARADIP: Public complacency and lax enforcement of Covid guidelines in slum areas have raised fears of community transmission among locals in Paradip.
The port city reported 45 cases on Friday while 16 cases were reported on Wednesday and 41 on Thursday.
In Paradip, a sizeable section (over 80 per cent) of the city’s population resides in slums. As per official statistics, there are nearly 59,216 households across 25 slums in the city.
With over 25 per cent of the settlements being illegal, dwellers are often found violating Covid guidelines as availing even basic amenities like drinking water becomes a concern for them.
For instance, most slum dwellers are seen flocking to nearby stand posts to fetch water without maintaining social distance.
Hundreds of daily labourers reside in unauthorised slums thereby making it difficult for the Paradip municipality to identify Covid cases in these areas. Since most people do not follow Covid appropriate behaviour, it is being apprehended that spread of the disease could take a dangerous turn. In many cases people do not go for testing even after having symptoms.
This apart, the influx of contract workers from neighbouring states like West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand - all hotspots - has emerged as a major challenge as monitoring their movement is difficult. Incidentally, most of the new cases have turned out to be local contacts of returnees.
Sources said there’s complete disregard to norms in slums in the city even during the lockdown and this could be the prime reason behind the surging cases.
Even in urban areas, neither the Health department nor the Paradip municipality keep a tab on movement of family members of Covid patients who are under home isolation. Locals have alleged that many contacts of home isolated patients are often found roaming freely.
Commenting on the situation, Paradip Model Police Station IIC Rajani Kant Samal said important areas like the main entrance to the port at Atharbanki, Badapadia market and other sensitive locations have been blocked to prevent crowding and rise in cases, but the situation is not improving.
The administration is now intensifying efforts to penalise violators as people continue to remain complacent, he said. Meanwhile, Jagatsinghpur district recorded 165 new cases on Friday.