Residents’ groups are proving to be an indispensable ally to Greater Chennai Corporation in ensuring people mask up at public places.
At the Corporation-run park on Officers’ Colony Main Road in Mogappair, a huge cloth banner says ‘no face masks, no entry’.
Together with the security guard at the facility, a few members of the Anna Nagar Western Extension Phase II Residents’ Welfare Association see to it that the rule is followed.
As the RWA’s oversee the maintenance of the park, its members also ascertain that the facility is not overrun with people.
“Unlike the playground in our neighbourhood, the park is a small public area and so, we can enforce the face mask rule there. Visitors to the park also understand its significance,” says V. Rajagopal, president, Anna Nagar Western Extension Phase II Residents’ Welfare Association.
Members of the Association started the Officers’ Colony Park Users’ Club (OPUC) more than two decades ago.
Volunteers of the club, who are mostly local residents, had been roped in for door-to-door campaign relating to civic issues, including garbage dumping, bad roads and street lights in their respective neighbourhoods.
