CONTAINED: In the heavily crowed Mangor Hill area occupied by the fishing committee there has been a sudden spurt in Covid19 cases. This has provoked the Goa Government to declared Mangor Hill a contained case which are traditionally totally sealed. “andar se koi bhara na ja sake aur bahar se koi andar na aa sake”

By Vinod Rajput Noida

Following a sudden surge in the number of coronavirus cases Vasco-da-Gama’s Mangor Hill has been declared a contaminated zone. The earlier classifications of red, green and orange have been cancelled and even the rules in containment zones are more relaxed. Shops are permitted to work from 9am to 9pm…..

The district magistrate’s order comes after the Uttar Pradesh government on Sunday issued new guidelines that will come into effect from June 1
The Gautam Budh Nagar administration on Sunday announced more relaxations for the fifth phase of the lockdown. Now, the shops in the district can remain open from 9am to 9pm, although odd-even system will continue, officials said.
Besides, the district administration has also changed the containment zone rules for the group housing societies, a move that will give relief to the residents in Noida and Greater Noida. It has also opened parks for visitors with some riders.
The district magistrate’s order comes after the Uttar Pradesh government on Sunday issued new guidelines that will come into effect from June 1
As per the new guidelines, if there is one or more active positive cases on a floor of a multi-storey tower, then only that particular tower will be declared a containment zone and not the entire housing society. And if there is one or more than one case in more than one towers in a housing society, then all these towers in question will be in containment zones and all common facilities that include swimming pool, club, park and banquet halls will be sealed to prevent the spread of Covid-19 infection.
However, containment rules for ‘mohalla’ or clusters will remain unchanged, the guidelines said.
The UP government has revised rules after the a group of residents demanded from the government to make changes in the rules. Recently, Greater Noida West’s Ecovillage I society residents had also protested against old rules because all 61 towers were part of containment zone after one family in a tower was found positive.
Apartment owners have welcomed the new containment rules for group housing societies.
“This step will ease out stress of high-rise dwellers. New definition of containment zone is indeed going to benefit a large segment of people. The new guidelines strike a balance between the health, convenience and ease in streamlining residents’ professional requirements,” said Rajiva Singh, president, Noida Federation of Apartment Owners Association (NOFAA), a flat owners’ group.
The district has 51 category I containment zones, while 31 containment zones fall into category II as defined by the UP government.
“We will deal with the containment zones as per the new guidelines of the state government. Residents’ demands with regard to containment zones for towers have been looked into. And now only a tower will be made a containment zone with one or more positive cases are found. And more than one towers will be part of containment zone if one or more cases are found in these towers in question in a society,” said Suhas LY, district magistrate, Gautam Budh Nagar.
Meanwhile, the district administration said that the restrictions on movement of traffic between Noida and Delhi will continue till further orders. The Noida-Delhi borders will continue to be ‘sealed’, said Alok Singh, GB Nagar police commissioner, on Sunday.
“We are waiting for reports from the health department for evaluation. As of now, it will remain sealed till further decision is taken on it,” said Singh.
Regarding relaxing the odd-even formula of opening of shops in the markets, the district magistrate said, “We are discussing all issues with stakeholders and soon issue guidelines on the same. We have only decided on timings of shops after discussions with traders.”
Shops in non-containment zones will be opened from 9am to 9pm, the officials said.
Sushil Kumar Jain, president of Sector 18 market association, said, “We wanted relaxation in timings, which has been accepted. Apart from this, we expect that inter-state transport facilities will be started so that our staff can travel easily to work.”
The district officials said that all government offices are allowed to resume operations with 100% attendance. However, the departments can change the shift timings of employees, they said.