<p>Drones takes off and hovers over a cluster of slums, jumbo tankers of the fire brigade zooms past, ambulances with sirens on, grabbing attention. Policemen parading the streets, doctors and medical staff on job. A group of cops are glued to the CVTV footage and, simultaneously, intelligence sleuths ferret information.</p>.<p>This is not a war zone.</p>.<p>Its not just a security mock drill but this is what's happening in Dharavi in Mumbai, the biggest slum locality in whole of Asia.</p>.<p>As many as 19 persons in this densely-populated area have been found <a href="http://www.deccanherald.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_blank">COVID-19</a> positive in a week's time, of which three have died.</p>.<p>Sandwiched between the Central and Western railway lines of Mumbai, it is just around two kilometers away form Matoshree, the private bungalow of Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, at Bandra.</p>.<p>State's public health and family welfare minister Rajesh Tope and school education minister Varsha Gaikwad, who is the MLA form Dharavi, speak to each other several times in a day to monitor the situation.</p>.<p>"We want to contain the Dharavi cases...contact tracing is key," says municipal commissioner Praveen Pardeshi.</p>.<p>For the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Dharavi is a big challenge.</p>.<p>A sizable part of Dharavi has been declared as containment zone.</p>.<p>Dharavi is spread over 2.1 sq km and is home to over 7 lakh people, majority of whom are migrants. It's a sort of 'mini-India'.</p>.<p>The key problems that Dharavi faces: 95 per cent plus people use public sanitation facilities, more than 6 to 8 persons stay in places like 8 x 10 sq ft, majority are migrants and many depend on tiffin facilities.</p>.<p>To beef up security measures and ensure "complete lockdown", companies of SRPF have been deployed.</p>.<p>Intelligence sleuths are trying to fish out as many people who would have attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Delhi's Nizamuddin Markaz or have interacted with the attendees.</p>.<p>"Drones are hovering over Dharavi to see if anyone is stepping out and the crowd the toilets. The government has decided to use power water jets of the fire brigade at toilets every two hours," officials said.</p>.<p>Besides that, the state government is also in touch with NGOs and voluntary organisations to working out a strategy so that food can be delivered at the door step.</p>.<p>At the Mumbai police control room, the CCTV footages from roads, junctions of Dharavi are being strictly monitored.</p>
<p>Drones takes off and hovers over a cluster of slums, jumbo tankers of the fire brigade zooms past, ambulances with sirens on, grabbing attention. Policemen parading the streets, doctors and medical staff on job. A group of cops are glued to the CVTV footage and, simultaneously, intelligence sleuths ferret information.</p>.<p>This is not a war zone.</p>.<p>Its not just a security mock drill but this is what's happening in Dharavi in Mumbai, the biggest slum locality in whole of Asia.</p>.<p>As many as 19 persons in this densely-populated area have been found <a href="http://www.deccanherald.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_blank">COVID-19</a> positive in a week's time, of which three have died.</p>.<p>Sandwiched between the Central and Western railway lines of Mumbai, it is just around two kilometers away form Matoshree, the private bungalow of Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, at Bandra.</p>.<p>State's public health and family welfare minister Rajesh Tope and school education minister Varsha Gaikwad, who is the MLA form Dharavi, speak to each other several times in a day to monitor the situation.</p>.<p>"We want to contain the Dharavi cases...contact tracing is key," says municipal commissioner Praveen Pardeshi.</p>.<p>For the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Dharavi is a big challenge.</p>.<p>A sizable part of Dharavi has been declared as containment zone.</p>.<p>Dharavi is spread over 2.1 sq km and is home to over 7 lakh people, majority of whom are migrants. It's a sort of 'mini-India'.</p>.<p>The key problems that Dharavi faces: 95 per cent plus people use public sanitation facilities, more than 6 to 8 persons stay in places like 8 x 10 sq ft, majority are migrants and many depend on tiffin facilities.</p>.<p>To beef up security measures and ensure "complete lockdown", companies of SRPF have been deployed.</p>.<p>Intelligence sleuths are trying to fish out as many people who would have attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Delhi's Nizamuddin Markaz or have interacted with the attendees.</p>.<p>"Drones are hovering over Dharavi to see if anyone is stepping out and the crowd the toilets. The government has decided to use power water jets of the fire brigade at toilets every two hours," officials said.</p>.<p>Besides that, the state government is also in touch with NGOs and voluntary organisations to working out a strategy so that food can be delivered at the door step.</p>.<p>At the Mumbai police control room, the CCTV footages from roads, junctions of Dharavi are being strictly monitored.</p>
