Fearing COVID-19, Secunderabad colony to put up barricades to prevent 'unwanted traffic'

Police have told residents that they can put up barricades at their own expense.
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In view of the increasing number of coronavirus cases in Telangana, several apartment owners are restricting entry of visitors to their building premises. But one area, Vasavi Nagar in Secunderabad Cantonment, is planning to barricade the entire colony to prevent 'unwanted traffic' from outside.

A decision regarding this was taken by the Vasavi Nagar Welfare Association. They have submitted an official representation to the Karkhana Police station seeking permission to put up barricades in the way it was done while the lockdown was first imposed.

With lockdown restrictions being lifted slowly, despite the rise in cases, residents have decided to limit the entry of outsiders from all four sides of the colony. Barricades would be erected near Canara Bank, Chola Residency, Bank of India and Punjab National Bank in Vasavi Nagar.

Residents, in their representation letter to the police, have stated that their colony has about 1,500 people residing there, of which most are senior citizens aged above 60. They are among the most vulnerable for the coronavirus infection.

As per the letter, though the residents had asked the police to re-erect the barricades, the police refused, telling the residents that they could do it at their own expense.

Vasavi Nagar colony president, Telukunta Sathish Gupta said, “The request made by the colony association has been approved by the police department — to close the roads to stop ‘unwanted’ people from entering our colony as coronavirus cases are rapidly increasing outside. In this regard, our colony roads would remain closed from Tuesday or Wednesday onwards. We are planning a budget.”

He added that there were no cases in their colony as of now but the move to barricade was a precautionary measure. “It's the lockdown that was lifted, but coronavirus cases haven’t come down. They are only on the rise. It's the time that we should be more careful,” Satish said.

When contacted, Karkhana Police Station House Officer (SHO), P Madhukar Swamy, confirmed that a representation had been received in this regard.

“As long as they are barricading their colony premises for their own safety in view of the coronavirus, without disturbing the public, then it's fine. We can’t say anything,” said the SHO when asked about the legality of establishing such barricades.

Meanwhile, Telangana state has 4,974 reported cases of COVID-19, of which 2,377 have been discharged. 180 died due to the disease, as per official information provided by the Telangana Public Health and Family Welfare Department.

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