Civic body will now seal a building only if 20 per cent of occupied flats report at least one case each; earlier, action was taken in case of 5 infections from different floors
A sealed building at Colaba in October 2020. File/Suresh Karkera
In a wide departure from existing practices, the civic body will now seal a building only after more than 20 per cent of households report at least one Covid case each. Until now, such an action is taken if a building reports more than five cases on different floors. Officials said it causes much inconvenience to the residents and a more pragmatic approach is the need of the hour.
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The BMC had brought out the rules to seal slums and high-rises during the first phase of the lockdown. Initially, the corporation sealed whole buildings and complexes, in some cases nearby high-rises as well, even after one case was registered. After strong opposition from citizens, it revised the rule and sealed only the floor if the number of cases was less than five and sealed the wing if cases were more than five and on multiple floors.
Currently, 4,841 floors with less than 5 cases and 318 buildings with more than 5 cases are sealed in the city. D ward comprising Malabar Hill, Grant Road and Tardeo has the most number of sealed buildings at 127. K west that covers Andheri West and Vile Parle West has 87 such structures.
“Though the buildings are sealed on paper, it is difficult for the BMC to enforce it as the numbers are high. Residents were complaining about entries being restricted and many of them didn’t follow the norms,” said one of the ward medical officers on the condition of anonymity.
As per the revised rules, effective today, the whole building or a wing of the building complex shall be sealed if more than 20 per cent of occupied number of flats in the building or a wing is affected with Covid patients. If a building or complex has 200 houses, the entry will be closed if at least one case each is reported in 41 houses.
“Cases are rising sharply, it is not feasible to close the access of whole buildings as some buildings may have more than five cases for over a month or so,” said a senior official. BMC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said, “We are changing it to make it more realistic and it will help curb the spread.”
318
No. of buildings currently sealed in city
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