During the last week, the Greater Chennai Corporation has been circulating and creating awareness about their control room numbers as well as the contact details of their zone wise officials for emergencies during the ongoing lockdown and this came in handy for a resident in the city.
Vidya Reddy, a resident of Vepery in Zone 5, said that there were issues regarding the plumbing in her house. "With two senior citizens at home, this was becoming a matter of concern. We weren't able to find a plumber to come and carry out any repairs as well due to the lockdown," she said. She had then reached out to the zonal officials who immediately sent a plumber with the city corporation to rectify the issue. "They considered the fact that there were senior citizens and their timely assistance was greatly appreciated," she said.
The GCC had shared numbers of the zonal officers and regional deputy commissioners on their social media handles a few days back, stating that the public can directly call them in case of any concerns as it would be easier to resolve when it is decentralised. Some of the queries that they expected to get was regarding the opening of grocery shops, mobilising ailing patients, addressing the needs of expectant mothers and senior citizens.
R. Manoharan, zonal officer in Zone 5, said that over the last few days, they have been getting calls from residents about purchasing medicines and enquiries about the availability of essentials in their areas. "For senior citizens who have called in and told us about their inability to procure medicines, we ensured that our health department officials reached out to them and got them the medicines. We recently had a call from a man who needed medicines for his wife who had just delivered a baby and since he was hesitant to step out, we ensured the medicines reached him as well," he added.
