The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Thursday told the Karnataka High Court that the city had 9,926 active containment zones (CZs) as on July 23, and around 5.3 lakh households are covered under CZs.
Meanwhile, after being repeatedly hauled up by the court for failing to adhere to the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for CZs, the BBMP admitted it is duty-bound to identify and list persons requiring special needs (pregnancies, cardiac patients, and suffering from other serious ailments) in CZs with the help of RWAs.
As many as 15,642 households with senior citizens; 5,536 households with elderly persons having co-morbidities like diabetic, high blood pressure, cardiac problems; 1,807 with elderly persons suffering from ILI (Influenza Like Illness)/SARI (Severe Acute Respiratory Illness/COVID-19 symptoms); and 1,335 households with pregnant/lactating mothers have been identified so far in the CZs through an on-going health survey, the BBMP told a division bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Alok Aradhe during video conference hearing on PIL petitions related to COVID-19 restrictions.
The BBMP has accepted that it has a duty to supply food/ration kits to needy persons in CZs and said that it has estimated a requirement of around 53,000 ration kits, and around 8,000 kits have been distributed so far.
Stating that needy persons in CZs are being identified through the survey, the BBMP said that if the household has ration card, then food kit would be distributed as per the entitlement. In case of households not having ration card, the assessment is being done based on the condition of the household and the nature of work undertaken for livelihood.
