It was a feeling as if caged birds released for residents of Hindpiri, Purani Ranchi and Lake Road when these localities were freed from the tag of containment zones. The Ranchi district administration on Sunday late evening decided to free Hindpiri from containment zone. In a meeting headed by Deputy Commissioner, Rai Mahimapat Ray it was decided that as Hindpiri has not recorded any positive case in last 28 days the area should be freed from containment zone. As per Disaster Management directive, if an area has not recorded any positive case in last 28 days than the area is out from containment zone.
According to the report presented before the District Disaster Management Committee, the last time a case came to the fore in the area of Hindpiri was 28 days back.
Apart from this, the work of medical screening has also been completed in the entire area. Reports of potential people in whom corona-like symptoms were found have also been found to be negative.
The first case of Covid 19 was traced from Hindpiri area when a 22-year-old Malaysian woman tested positive on March 31 in the city. The woman, with links to a Tablighi Jamaat attendee at Nizamuddin in New Delhi, stayed in the same Hindpiri locality along with other foreign nationals.
After the woman was tested positive, cases in Hindpiri area started growing as cases were reported on regular basis from the area. The area has witnessed two fatalities which include a 60 year-old man and his wife, who died last month.
The streets of the area were made containment zones in the first week of April after cases were reported from the area. The streets were cordoned off with barricades and police personnel deployed.
Locals say they had a hard time getting groceries and vegetables during the period. “As the area was in containment zone all shops including groceries and vegetables shops were closed. The district administration team used to make supply of regular items in the area,” said Mohammed Khalid alias Guddu, a car mechanic.
Echoing the views of Guddu, another resident of the area Umar Farook, an auto driver residing in the area said, “Though the government used to make supply of essential items but many a times it was irregular, there was no supply of milk and fruits. Also with no source of income, many families here couldn’t afford much.” “Many residents are well-off, but huge chunks are daily wagers and pursuing small businesses. They had no source of income,” added Farook.
Sources said that the residents of the area on several occasion had protested against district administration move with a demand to make the area containment zone free which resulted in ugly brawl between police and residents. On May 16 night CRPF deployed at Hindpiri resorted to lathi-charge and rubber pallets to disperse the crowd after a clash with the locals living in the area over some trivial issue. CRPF was deployed at Hindpiri, largest containment zone in Jharkhand, to implement the lockdown strictly.