Lockdown: Shivajinagar buffer zone to be lifted on June 6

With 47 active Covid-19 cases affiliated to it as of Tuesday evening, the Shivajinagar buffer zone will be denotified on June 6 instead of June 24, Palike officials confirmed.

The zone, one of the largest in the city, has been the result of a spate of outbreaks in recent weeks. Four distinct hotspots within the Shivajinagar area have resulted in a combined buffer zone.

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According to Dr Siddapaji, East Zone, BBMP health officer-in-charge, each hotspot had a buffer zone extending up to a kilometre.

Representatives of various Shivajinagar markets outside the immediate containment areas held a meeting with BBMP commissioner B H Anil Kumar and mayor M Goutham Kumar, on Tuesday and appealed to lift the buffer zone on humanitarian grounds.

“The zone was imposed on May 4, and the intervening period, the people who live within it have faced serious hardships. About 80% of them are daily wage workers, who have not had any livelihood for weeks. Things are desperate,” said Mohammed Idrees Choudhary, General Secretary of the Russell Market Traders’ Association.

“These last few weeks have been a horror to us. The economic losses are not known but run into crores,” he added.

Strict conditions

However, the lifting of the zone has come with strict riders. “If we don’t see social distancing happening, if we see garbage being dumped indiscriminately and if we see people not wearing masks, the buffer zone will be up once again,” the BBMP commissioner has warned.

The four Covid-19 hotspots in Shivajinagar are located on Chandni Chowk Road, Seppings Road, Thimmaiah Road and M No 3 Street.