Hyderabad: Barricades removed to residents great relief at Old Malakpet

Hyderabad: It was no less than a festivity for scores of families in Old Malakpet containment zone, who were under lockdown in 'containment zone' for the past 10 days, after the gates were unlocked and barricades removed on Tuesday. Relieved by this, men rushed out to buy essentials and fruits on the fourth day of Ramzan.

Following the pressure from residents, who were held up under one of the containment zones, and with no new cases being reported, the authorities removed the barricades giving a sigh of relief for about 100 families. "Since the barricades were removed, I shall now buy some essentials. We were struggling to cope with the situation for the past 10 days," said one of the residents, Mohammed Rizwan.

This was one of the clusters from where residents started complaining about lack of provisions and essentials, even after the Ramzan started. On Monday, the local MLA, Ahmed Bin Abdullah Balala, intervened and blamed the officials for forcing people to resort to protest for depriving them of essentials. On Tuesday morning, the barricades were cleared and locks were opened for allowing people to get ration.

Across the city, there are around 140 containment zones which are marked by GHMC and as per the norms, essentials should be made available. But on Monday in Old Malakpet containment zone, around 50 residents came out of their houses and urged the authorities to open the gates for at least limited time. "We have been requesting the authorities to open the area at least in morning hours, but the request was unheard. We thank Malakpet MLA for making GHMC authorities cooperate with the residents. What is the purpose of holding up people when there are no fresh cases of Coronavirus?" said Rizwan. According to the Old Malakpet division corporator, Mohammed Saifuddin Shafi, in this area 14 COVID-19 cases were detected. While all of them were taken away for treatment, others who came into contact were asked to stay in home quarantine. The residents were having difficult time since then. Though the authorities created a WhatsApp group of people from each family living in the zone to help them with essentials, but it was of no use, Rizwan added.