Mumbai: With rise in COVID-19 numbers, BMC plans to reverse relaxations

After the rise in COVID19 cases the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC is back to square one in terms of the action it took at the beginning of the pandemic All relaxations will be reversed and some rules strictly imposed again with firmer action against violators The BMC is readying itself to intensify its battle against COVID19 and Mumbaikars have no option but to toe the lineThe BMC has already begun implementing some of the action Passengers from Brazil for instance are being forcibly quarantinedIn a meeting on Thursday the civic commissioner ordered all concerned officers to file a police complaint against people not following social distancing The action to be taken also includes BMC teams calling on the landline number of residents in home quarantine The corporation will raid marriage halls and clubs to check the number of people and whether they are following social distancing rules The owners of halls and clubs will also face police action if the number of people are more than 50 and they do not follow social distancing If rules are violated at wedding ceremonies criminal action should be taken against the organisersparents as well as the concerned management said Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh ChahalShoppers at Dadar on Thursday PicAshish RajeThe BMC has also decided to reverse all the relaxations it has given in the past few months after the cases started declining One such relaxation was regarding the sealing of buildings In the early days a building was sealed after a single patient was reported there The rules were relaxed and then the corporation started sealing a building if there were five or more patients In October the rules were further relaxed due to pressure from the residents and only those buildings which reported 10 or more patients were sealed But it was learnt that the residents were not following quarantine rules for two weeks ldquoNow as per the discussion in todayrsquos meeting the rules for sealing a building will be stricter A building will be sealed even after reporting five patients The guidelines may be issued on Mondayrdquo said an official from the BMCPrithviraj Chauhan assistant commissioner of M east ward told midday ldquoWe will take the landline number of people who are in home quarantine and call them at regular intervals to keep tabs on them If they do not follow the rules we will send them to institutional quarantinerdquoA BMC team conducts tests at Dhanji Devasi BMC school Ghatkopar E on Thursday PicSayyed Sameer AbediAsymptomatic patients who do not show any symptoms will be home quarantined Such patients will also be stamped on their hands as before and their information will be reported to the concerned societies They will also be contacted on the telephone 5 to 6 times a day to ensure that they are at home If the asymptomatic patient walks out of the house before the completion of the home quarantine period into a public place the housing society should inform the Ward War Room of the corporation which will act against such patients Institutional quarantine will also be done for such patients said ChahalForced testing for early detectionldquoPeople are not ready to get a test done After a joint initiative by L and MEast wards in Nehru Nagar and Tilak Nagar and visiting over 5000 houses we found only 19 people were ready to get tested As of now we do not force anyone and people will understand the importance of tests But if the condition deteriorates the BMC may be forced to do tests for early detectionrdquo said Manish Walanju assistant commissioner of L ward consisting of Kurla and Chembur He added that they had filed a police complaint against the resident of a Powai building for not following quarantine rules The Powai police filed the FIR under IPC section 188 Disobedience to order and 269 Whoever unlawfully or negligently does any act which is and which he knows or has reason to believe to be likely to spread the infection of any disease dangerous to life on Thursday ldquoThe resident was found positive and we sealed the floor informed the residents and secretary Even after that she went to Pune After a complaint from one of the residents we took action against herrdquo said Dr Jitendra Jadhav medical officer of L ward This is the first complaint after the commissioner asked to take a stringent actionIn areas where a large number of new patients are found area mapping will be done and the maximum number of tests will also be done there In such areas at least 15 close contact persons per patient will be found and kept in isolation In slums and densely populated areas health checkup camps will be organised with the help of NGOs to check suspects added ChahalForced segregation of travellers from BrazilAs per the rules of the Central government now passengers coming to India from Brazil will also have to live in institutional quarantine As a result the BMC administration has decided to forcibly keep passengers coming from Brazil at the Mumbai airport in sevenday institutional quarantine and its implementation has startedEven the action against those not wearing masks will be harsh and the target for staff to fine violators has been increased to 25000 The BMC has already deployed marshals in local trains to act against those not wearing masks Municipal Commissioner Chahal told midday that the action will be intensified to curb the spread of COVID19