No metal sheets, only banners at sealed homes in Bengaluru

Following public outrage over the sealing of an apartment door with galvanised metal sheets, the BBMP has changed the guidelines.

Now, the civic body would only put up a banner or sticker stating that the building in question is a contained area and no entry is allowed inside. It will seal an area or a street with poles or barricades only if the residents of three or four houses test positive.

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Two flats at an apartment complex in Domlur were sealed with galvanised metal sheets on July 23, which netizens widely condemned and dubbed “inhuman”. The BBMP commissioner ordered removing the sheets from the flats on the same day.

BBMP sources said the civic body had to earlier block the entry and exit by fixing galvanised metal sheets and iron rods as there was lack of awareness over Covid-19. This practice has now been stopped. Metal sheets and bars are used only in places where more than three houses report Covid-19 positive.

The civic body only puts up a banner or pastes a sticker informing that the place is a containment zone. They inform the neighbours to stay away from the positive patients, said a BBMP official.

“Now, everyone knows how to take care of themselves by staying in home isolation, since there’s enough awareness. We dropped the idea of forcefully locking them up. There’re 9,500 containment zones, visited by Asha workers and update information on those in home isolation,” he added.