RWAs seek nod to turn clubs into Covid facilities

Gurgaon: The RWAs of 24 condominiums and residential colonies in the city on Thursday wrote a joint letter to the deputy commissioner seeking guidelines to convert their club houses and community centres into Covid-relief facilities. This comes a day after the RWAs held an online meeting with the deputy commissioner to discuss the hardships people were facing in getting access to basic healthcare in Gurgaon.

In their letter, the residents’ associations under the banner of ‘RWA United’ also urged Gurgaon DC Yash Garg to empower them to impose lockdown at a condominium or housing society level with permission of movement only for emergency purposes. The RWAs also sought Garg’s nod to report repeat violators of Covid protocols to the local authorities to ensure the safety of residents.

The residents’ group included RWAs of Vatika City, Uniworld Gardens 2, Ireo Uptown, Nirvana Country, Orchid Petals, Unitech Escape, The Nile, Wembley Estate, Malibu Condominiums, Vipul World BCD Blocks, Carlton Estate, Bellevue Central Park-2, Tatvam Villas, Raisina, Unitech Harmony, Grand Arch, Sispal Vihar, Fresco Apartments, Palm Drive, Rosewood, Exclusive Floors, South City-2, Spaze Privy and Vipul Greens.

The group further suggested that residents with Covid-19 symptoms should immediately be advised to inform the RWAs instead of waiting for the test results, which would in turn help in controlling the spread of the virus infection in their colonies.

Jyoti Ahuja of Vatika City RWA, said, “At present, the city healthcare infrastructure is under stress, therefore, the residents need to manage at their own level. So, we have written to the administration. We have suggested converting our club house into a Covid care facility. At the same time, we’ve requested for SOPs on the management of such centres and supervision from the competent authority.”

“We have requested for clear criteria for identification of a large outbreak region as despite having around 170 active cases, our society is not included in LOR list by the administration,” he added.

The RWAs have also highlighted the need for single point of contact, regular lifting of waste from Covid households, capping of charges on ambulance, medicine, paramedic staff, oxygen cylinders, concentrators and strict action on black marketing of the essential medical commodities. “Last year, the district administration issued clear SOPs for the RWAs. So, we have approached the district administration,” said Pranav Kumar, RWA president of Ireo Uptown.