A rectangular wooden plank, blocks of rocks and dry branches of a tree make a bulwark, right at a narrow underpass that leads to Arundhathiyar Nagar in Mettupalayam, Perambur.
A banner tied to this makeshift protective barrier, warns residents not to break the curfew, and it also lists do’s and don’ts relating to the COVID-19 situation.
Thanks to resident-volunteers from this neighbourhood, the movement of people are heavily restricted. These people however get all possible help from the group.
Neighbourhood groups may have a large area to watch over, and all residents may not be on the same page about a lot of things, so they may have to come up with stringent checks or rules to prevent movement of people and vehicles.
Residents attached to neighbourhood associations, volunteering groups, or just individuals have risen above the crisis to spare a thought for the underprivileged.
From running errands for a senior couple staying alone to checking on a lonely tenant to sharing the labour at the garden, the pandemic has brought people closer.
The eight-unit apartment at New Beach Road in Thiruvanmiyur have their own rules framed. No service provider is allowed inside and deliveries are placed on a table kept at the entrance of the gate. The community has made arrangements for the security guard to stay in the apartment till the lockdown is lifted. The green area is now taken care of by residents who take turns to share the work and the harvest from the rooftop garden as well as from the common area.
“Before the lockdown, the gardener took care of the green area; now it’s largely maintained by us,” says Sumathy Hariharan, a resident of K.G. Kensington and a garden enthusiast. The residents are enjoying the fruits of this labour, and rightly so. “We have so far shared papaya, greens, spinach, chilli and brinjal among ourselves,” she says.
Sri Kapaleeswarar Nagar in Neelankarai recently opened a “community market place” where freshly plucked vegetables and fruits from the kitchen garden of residents are placed virtually through an app for residents to buy.
M. Sivakumar, former president of Sri Kapaleeswarar Nagar Welfare Association who started the app, says that almost every plot owner has a coconut tree or a banana plant on the premises of his house.
“During times like this, why do we need to depend on an outside vendor if we can encourage buying and selling of produce within the colony itself?” says Sivakumar.
That is a thought worth mulling on.
Have you asked these questions?
Does your association have a society management software? Have you installed CCTV cameras? Do you have processes to manage household waste? These are questions that residential associations pay attention to, during any crisis. As the challenges posed by the pandemic are unique, housing societies that have invested in good communication platforms and security features are reaping the benefits.
The Association at Ayyavu Naidu Colony has 26 streets in Aminijakarai under its wing, and having an eye on every house can be a challenge. The Association has a representative for every street who serves as the single point of contact for residents there. Besides, the CCTV cameras installed by the police, the association has ensured that at least 50 percent of houses are invested in it.
Around two years ago, Kamaraj Nagar Residents Welfare Association in Perungudi brought out their own directory of residents and the details inked in includes, profession of family members of the resident whose name is entered in the directory, the plot number and contact details.
If there’s a medical emergency or somebody wants to find out the whereabouts of a lonely neighbour, the book would come in handy.
You can never anticipate a crisis; so it is always better to take precautionary measures. We have CCTV cameras at our entry and exit points which is a good thing to have at these times, says P. Sajeevan, a member of the Association.
For housing societies spread across streets, having a database of residents can be a huge help.
“Just before the Chennai floods we had our Association website up and I still remember we spent three months going to every house to collect details including their contact numbers. We had to get their consent and also assure them that it will not be shared elsewhere, but be only with the Association for communication purposes,” says Sivakumar of Sri Kapaleeswarar Nagar Welfare Association. Now, every week, the Association has an advisory sent out to all residents about COVID-19 including measures taken by them. Recently, when www.ethottam.com started going on rounds covering all the streets in the neighbourhood, the WhatsApp group was relaying information from time to time.
“You need real-time information to communicate and get people together,” he says.
