COVID-19: After COVID-19 cases in Dharavi, politicians in Bengaluru draw govt's attention towards slums

The report on COVID-19 positive cases from Mumbai’s Dharavi slum seems to have put a spotlight on slums across Bengaluru with politicians demanding the state government to increase surveillance and sanitation programmes to contain the further spread of COVID-19. Several corporators who took part in the video conference with Revenue minister R Ashoka and Mayor Goutham Kumar requested for speedy action in this regard.

According to sources, Bengaluru city alone has about 387 slums under various wards limits and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has already taken up a massive sanitisation programme and it has been spraying disinfectant in the localities. A video conference with 198 corporators on COVID-19 preparedness on Thursday witnessed many politicians demanding surveillance and other health facilities in several slums of the city.

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Lavanya Ganesh Reddy, Corporator from Lingarajapuram ward said, “A person who recently returned from New Delhi has been put under home quarantine. Considering the density of the population in the vicinity, the family needs to be shifted to a government quarantine facility.” She also requested for increasing rounds of disinfectant spray in the area.

Similarly, VV Puram Corporator Vani V Rao expressed, “The BBMP must increase health facilities at the slums by deploying more number of doctors in slum areas.” Jeevan Bhima Nagar Corporator Veena Kumari also said, “There are three slums in my ward limits. The jetting machine assigned to spray disinfectant has developed a technical glitch. We need more machines to spray disinfectant in all the slums.”

Responding to the concerns of the corporators, R Ashoka, Revenue minister said, “All corporators so far have been doing good work along with their teams. I have taken down the requests made by some of the corporators and will pass it on to the commissioner for implementation. Government is going all out to take up any sanitation and cleaning work to ensure safe and healthy Bengaluru.”

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Wards demand more food

Even as BBMP officials are struggling to feed the stranded labourers and the poor, on Thursday several corporators demanded that there shall be more supply of food to their wards. Cutting across the party lines, corporators revealed that their wards are short supplied by 500 to 1,500 packets of food.

Pratibha Dhanaraj, Corporator from Dharmarayaswamy ward requested to increase food packets by 500 to 1,000 in her ward. Similarly, Bytarayanapura ward Corporator PV Manjunath (Babu) also requested to increase the food packets from 1,300 to 2,000 packets a day.