This story is from April 8, 2020

Narela quarantine centre: Officials deny charges, say elaborate plan put in place

Delhi government officials said on Monday that they have been working on improving the facilities at the Narela quarantine centre to ensure that residents do not face any inconvenience.
Narela quarantine centre: Officials deny charges, say elaborate plan put in place
NEW DELHI: Delhi government officials said on Monday that they have been working on improving the facilities at the Narela quarantine centre to ensure that residents do not face any inconvenience.
The number of people deployed for sanitation, food, maintenance and security has been increased, they said. More than 500 employees of different government departments – district administration, health, civil defence, corporations, DJB, PWD and DDA – apart from personnel of Delhi Police and central armed forces are posted there.

Apart from providing food four times a day – breakfast, lunch, evening tea and dinner – in their rooms, the district administration is also supplying packaged drinking water. A caterer delivers food packets at the central disbursal point of each tower from where the civil defence volunteers carry them in a trolley to each floor. It is the responsibility of the nursing orderlies to deliver the food in the rooms.
“Serving food in each room takes time but some inmates don’t have patience and sometimes they come down at the disbursal point to collect the packets despite strict instructions that they should not come out of their rooms,” another official, who looks after the arrangements at the quarantine centre, said. “For about 1,200 residents, we get about 1,700 food packets and some of them also take two helpings. There is no question of any shortage of food and water,” said the official said, adding that quality and quantity of food is ensured by the administration.
The government has currently taken over eight towers and divided them into three blocks. Each tower has the capacity to accommodate 170-190 residents. Each housing unit has two rooms, one for each resident, and a common bathroom-cum-toilet and residents are provided with soaps, sanitizers and other amenities on a regular basis.
The centre is monitored by 250 CCTV cameras, mostly outside the buildings and people entering or coming out of the building are watched. “In the towers where the first two batches of people were brought, we have CCTV cameras in the corridors. But we could not install cameras in the corridors of other towers where people from the Markaz have been staying,” an official said.

According to the officials, each housing unit and bathroom is cleaned and sanitised twice a day apart from rooms and corridors being fumigated regularly. There are separate teams for electrical and plumbing units available round the clock in three shifts to attend to maintenance issues. “Maintenance issues can crop up in any house or building and that is why we have teams available to attend to such problems,” the second official said reacting to a question on complaints of poor sanitation
The health department of Delhi government has also deployed eight to ten teams of doctors, nursing orderlies and paramedics, which are being helped by four teams of the Army deputed recently by the government. Apart from the regular tests to monitor any symptom of Covid-19, the health workers also provide medicines and treatment for any other medical issues.
The district authorities, however, said some residents had not been cooperating in giving swabs for testing, forcing the officials to give them stern warnings. “We had to tell them that they will not be given food if they don’t stop being difficult and cooperate with the health teams,” said an official.
A day after a case was registered against two members of Tablighi Jamaat for defecating in the corridor of the centre, senior district officials said the action was taken to send across the message that such activities would not be tolerated. They said earlier too they received reports about Jamat members spitting and urinating in public, which were initially ignored and only warnings were issued.
“We are now making regular announcements that such acts would not be tolerated and strict action would be taken under the provisions of the Epidemic Act, Disaster Management Act and Indian Penal Code,” said an official, requesting anonymity.
End of Article
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA