First many thanks and
appreciations to Times of India on a positive news and thanks to the Chennai
Corporation Officials, Triplicane Police officials, TN Govt, Health Dept and
everyone involved in containing Covid 19.
The name
“Triplicane” pronounced Tiruvallikeni by natural laws of
linguistics, was crudely rolled and twisted out of shape by the English tongue
as Triplicane. It is a place where religion, nationalistic fervour,
patriotism, sports, education and the individual dignity have interspersed for
the benefit of the State and the larger interests of the Nation. A peep in to the past – history is
imperative to understand the pristine glory of this puranic place. The
present day territorial limits of the city existed in the shape of
scattered villages for centuries before the advent of the
British. In the process of growth, many villages got agglomerated
into a single unit. Thiruvallikkeni existed even before the birth of the modern
day Madras.
thousands of devotees on
Garuda Sevai day
Of the many roads in
Triplicane is ‘Venkatrangam Street’ a more than 1 km stretch – narrowing at places
to a small lane, starting from near Gosha Hospital in Pycrofts Road (Barathi
Salai) cutting across Besant Road and extending till Lighthouse railway station
behind QMC.
The Greater Chennai
Corporation (GCC) on Monday announced a new containment strategy for Covid-19
hotspots in the city, especially in Tondiarpet and Royapuram zones. According to the new strategy, wards in these
zones which have high number of cases will now have perimeter control akin to
the earlier containment street model. GCC commissioner G Prakash said more
number of young and energetic police constables would be deployed at these
perimeters to restrict movement of people from and to these cluster areas. This
would bring about a drop in the number of cases in these two zones in two
weeks, he said. "This will ensure that cases don't spill outside and hence
we can control and defuse the situation," he said.
This strategy has already
been tried out in ward 173 of Adyar zone (13), ward 114 of Teynampet zone (9)
and currently underway in ward 115 of the same zone, Prakash said. The second intervention that GCC will bring
in now is to shift vulnerable sections of the population, like those with
comorbidities, in these hotspots to safe quarantine centres like schools and
community halls for 10 days. "This will help us break the chain,"
Prakash said adding that good toilet facilities and food have been arranged. A total fine of Rs 50-55 lakh has been collected from
people, who were not wearing masks in public. "It is not our endeavour to
collect fines. We just want them to have some fear," Prakash said.
“Currently, we are collecting Rs 100 as fine,” he said.
Daily we read about Covid
19 and its effect. The numbers are
rising and Tamil Nadu is already no. 2 in the list with the city contributing
to that in a big way. Again in the city, our Zone was one of the top Red zones
which were causes of concern all the time. The start
of last month was a crude shock to the residents of Triplicane as some
residents of VR Pillai Street were found positive one after the other as
corporation officials discovered that two men who both tested positive had
distributed tea, coffee and snacks to many of them. News paper reports stated
that a single street in
Triplicane has recorded 42 COVID-19 cases in the city. Residents of VR Pillai
Street were found positive one after the other as corporation officials
discovered that two men who both tested positive had distributed tea, coffee
and snacks to many of them. The two primary cases, suspected to be the source
of infection in the street, are aged 35 and 49 and are also residents of VR
Pillai Street. The two men were related to each other and together distributed
beverages and food despite a corporation order to refrain from distributing
cooked food.
The city had
a total of 231 containment zones as on that date and including VR Pillai Street which falls under
the Teynampet zone of the city corporation. The street was put under containment from April 27, 2020. The concerns
were to increase as more people tested positive and the numbers rose steadily,
touching 75 and later 88 – a cause of major concern becoming a cluster.
The great news
now is that Venkatrangam Pillai Street, which at the start of May became a
major cluster, and having cases upto 88 became covid-free. Times of India Chennai edition reports that the
1.2 km long street under containment since Apr 27 was unlocked on May 25 after
no case was reported for 14 days.
All 88 patients have
recovered and have been discharged said Teynampet Zonal Officer J Ravikumar. He
is quoted as saying that they maintained 24X7 vigil in containment area and a 3
tier check to restrict movement. Jt
Commissioner of Police says that they ensured temporary toilet facilities too. As
on Sunday Teynampet has only 10 streets under the containment against the 201
in the city.
Thanks to Times
of India for publishing this positive note highlighting with a caption – ‘from
88 cases to 0 : Triplicane Street – a model !’.
Appreciate the tireless efforts of Corporation Officials, Police
Officials (Triplicane D3) (and Mylapore
DC Mr Deshmukh Sekar Sanjay); Health dept officials including the Minister for
Health Dr C Vijaya Baskar and Dr J Radhakrishnan – it was a well coordinated effort
fructifying and providing relief to all residents.
Though improper
to finish this way – as the print edition reached the residents of Triplicane,
an apartment on the other side of Venkatrangam Street has been closed and
marked containment zone. Hopefully,
there would be no spread and the affected person too recovers and returns
sooner.
With regards
– S. Sampathkumar
2.6.2020.
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