3 min readNew DelhiApr 12, 2020 11:14 PM IST
First published on: Apr 12, 2020 at 08:00 PM IST
People take refuge under Yamuna bridge after three shelter homes in New Delhi were set on fire Saturday. Kejriwal said around 23 lakh people, not holding valid ration cards, have applied for ration so far (Express photo: Prem Nath Pandey)
Coronavirus clusters in New Delhi will now be colour-coded red and orange based on the severity of the outbreak, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said Sunday, announcing the Delhi government’s plan to carry out a sanitisation drive in those areas.
Kejriwal said the government will notify more areas as containment zones in the next few days. At present, there are 33 such zones in Delhi, where stricter lockdown measures are in force, effectively making the rest of the city out of bounds for large chunks of the population.
“Our experiment in Dilshad Garden, where we had sealed the area and carried out ‘Operation Shield’, has succeeded. We have identified many more areas to be notified as containment zones. I understand that residents of those areas are facing a lot of difficulties. But we don’t want a situation like US, where over 2,000 deaths were recorded in the past 24 hours,” Kejriwal said.
While Kejriwal didn’t elaborate, senior district officials said that the containment zones have been classified as red while the buffer zones, which are the areas bordering the containment clusters, have been coded orange. These areas are also under enhanced surveillance.
The sanitisation drive, Kejriwal said, will cover both types of clusters. The orange zones have been as termed high-risk areas by experts, he added. For the purpose of sanitisation, 10 advanced japanese machines are being deployed apart from 50 smaller machines of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB).
The Japanese machines have been provided by a private firm free of cost, Kejriwal said. Each machine has the capacity to sanitise 20,000 sq metres per hour.
Rs 5000 for PSV drivers
The Chief Minister also said the transport department will start accepting applications from drivers of public servive vehicles, such autos, e-rickshaws, taxis and gramin sewas, to extend to them a one-time financial assistance of Rs 5,000.
The amount will be transferred to the Aadhar-linked bank accounts of the public service vehicle (PSV) bagde holders. The applicants will have to furnish their PSV badge numbers, driving licence numbers, mobile numbers and Aadhar numbers linked with bank accounts to get the benefit. The portal will begin functioning on April 13.
The CM added that around 23 lakh people, not holding valid ration cards, have applied for ration so far. Earlier, the government had said it was getting foodgrains for about 10 lakh such people and more allocation would be made if needed.
People take refuge under Yamuna bridge after three shelter homes in New Delhi were set on fire Saturday. Kejriwal said around 23 lakh people, not holding valid ration cards, have applied for ration so far (Express photo: Prem Nath Pandey)
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