S hould it be Zoom or Hangout? The resident association at Jains Inseli Park in Padur are weighing different options for a virtual event that must happen sooner than later.
The Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM), which was supposed to happen last month, got postponed due to the COVID outbreak, and then, with the lockdown being extended, the residents are considering hosting an e-meeting.
With the current situation throwing up many extraordinary situations, it is only natural that gated communities would tap into virtual platforms to discuss them and also apprise their community about strategies to deal with them.
At Jains Inseli Park, there is a clear urgency to host an e-meeting. In January, a new committee took over and various changes were brought in.
“It has become necessary to apprise members of the measures we have taken and we have homes that are quarantined,” says Lavanya Veera, secretary, Inseli Park Owners’ Association.
Virtual platforms are not a new feature for the gated community but the current crisis has encouraged them to make use of Hangout, Zoom and Skype. The gated community has nearly 500 occupied flats and given this number, the challenge before them is to figure out which platform would suit them the best.
“We are looking at getting a Zoom subscription as we are a big number and the free subscription is only for small groups,” says Lavanya. She says it is also convenient as most of their owners are NRIs.
“We are exploring various aspects of holding such a meeting, including the legal aspect of it, to see if such a meeting is permitted or if it could be a hybrid meeting or can it be completely online?,” she adds.
Day-to-day concerns
Two weeks ago, five members of Doshi Symphony Flat Owners Association held their first meeting on Zoom. “We have an active WhatsApp group where many issues are discussed but some things have to be discussed in person; you can’t keep texting,” says Rajesh Krishnamurthy, vice-president of the Association.
Apart from COVID-19, the Association is also battling water and sewage related issues.
“We had a virtual meeting to discuss septic tank clearance and to minimise the number of house-keeping staff coming to work,” says Rajesh.
North-east Z Block Association in Anna Nagar did a conference call to discuss a nauseating stench in the area that residents have been complaining about and the phase 2 of the lockdown. “We decided not to burden the Corporation at this time as they are already busy with COVID-19 related work,” says C.B. Paul Chellakumar, a member of the Association.
For some RWAs, adapting to a virtual platform is not new. Mylapore Residents Welfare Association has close to 18 members in its core team representing different areas in and around Mylapore. “We do video calls when all core team members are not available or cannot make it to the meeting venue at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan,” says K. Viswanathan, secretary, MRWA, adding that “it is convenient and also ensures better attendance.”
