Dhakoli residents taken aback

Sanjay Bumbroo
Tribune News Service
Mohali, April 13

Residents of Dhakoli in Zirakpur were taken aback today as office-goers were not allowed to leave or enter the area after it was declared a containment zone by the district administration late last night.

Free food packets for poor

Mohali Deputy Commissioner Girish Dayalan said essential goods and commodities such as milk and ration would be available and medical stores would remain open. He said people would be allowed to make purchases. Food packets would be provided free of cost to the poor, he said.

As the police barricaded the entry and exit points of the Dhakoli and Peer Muchalla areas bordering Panchkula, Baltana and Zirakpur, people could not go to their workplaces. The police said those who had left early in the morning could return to their houses by presenting their identity cards or residence proof.

Kishen Cheerwoo, a resident of Peer Muchalla, said he left for his workplace in Parwanoo at 8.30 am, but later came to know that the police had sealed the area.

Another resident, Rakesh Gupta of Dhakoli, said his wife works as a teacher in Panchkula and she was not sure whether the police would allow her to return to her house. The district administration has divided the containment zone into 10 areas to speed up testing.

Deputy Commissioner Girish Dayalan said testing and vaccination teams had already been deployed and there would be 100 per cent testing. He said those testing negative would be vaccinated, while those found infected would require isolation. "Once a team screens an area and it is found that it is safe, containment in that particular area will be lifted," he said.

Dayalan said 435 cases, which were abnormally high, had been reported from Dhakoli alone. People were required to stay at home and testing and vaccination teams would reach them.

Dayalan said essential goods and commodities such as milk and ration would be available and medical stores would remain open. He said people would be allowed to make purchases. Food packets would be provided free of cost to the poor, he said.

He said a 24X7 control room had been set up in the office of the SDM, Dera Bassi, and one could call on 01762-528116 foro any assistance.

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