Pooran Chandra Upreti, a Civil Engineer at IGI Airport, was sitting in a car with his daughter for over six hours on Sunday to get her the vaccine dose. “We are in the queue since 6 a.m. It might take another hour before our turn comes,” said Mr. Upreti.
The queue of cars on Mehrauli-Gurugram road was around four kilometres long. All of them were in line for the vaccination drive at the DLF City Centre shopping mall.
The district administration had on Sunday organised a drive-through vaccination drive with on-the-spot registration at the shopping mall for the 18-45 age group.
‘Good idea’
“This drive-through vaccination drive with on-the-spot registration doesn’t seem a good idea to me. It should be quick,” added 52-year-old Upreti, who lives in Laxman Vihar. While Mr. Upreti has received both the shots, he was accompanying his daughter for her first dose.
Mr. Upreti was also critical of the “inherent bias” against the underprivileged in the concept of drive-through vaccination drive. “The rich come in cars and get vaccinated in a safe environment. What about the poor? The administration should spare a thought about them as well,” he said.
The second day of the drive-through vaccination drive was no different from the first drive, which was held on Saturday with serpentine queues of vehicles and spats amongst beneficiaries.
Ravinder (42), a cab driver, claimed that a minor brawl broke out after two motorists tried to sneak into a queue and a Police Control Room vehicle had to intervene. The police made all those involved in the brawl return home.
Standing in a queue since 8 a.m., Mr. Ravinder, feared that he might miss the second opportunity to get the vaccine. “I was in the queue yesterday (on Saturday) as well for the drive at Mega Mall. The line stretched up to Galleria Market and beyond. I left after waiting for two hours. I tried booking a slot but found only in Nuh. I thought it better to wait in the queue here than to go all the way to Nuh,” said Ravinder, a Gandhi Nagar resident.
Assistant Sub-Inspector Kuldeep, deployed for traffic management, said two people had parked their vehicles at the mall’s entrance at 11:30 p.m. the previous night to beat the rush. ASI Yogesh, deployed at the mall’s entrance, said beneficiaries had started queuing up around 5 a.m. He said that tokens were given to the first 500 beneficiaries so that others don’t have to wait. But many towards the end of the queue did not know about the tokens.
Amit Lakhotia, founder and Chief Executive Officer, Park+, an automated parking solution start-up, said the update about the number of vaccinations administered was available on the company’s app as well on an LED screen at the shopping mall to keep those in queue informed.
“It was clearly communicated that the vaccination would start at 10 a.m., but if people decide to come at 6 a.m. we cannot do much about it,” said Mr. Lakhotia. His start-up has been assisting the administration in managing the drive.
The district administration claimed that 590 beneficiaries were vaccinated at DLF City Centre against the target of 500.
Besides the shopping mall, similar drive-through vaccination drives for those above 45 years were conducted at Candor Techspace in sectors 48 and 21 as well.
