Several areas in Salt Lake, Bangur, Baguiati, Jyangra, Kestopur and other places have been declared micro-containment zones because multiple Covid cases are being reported from there.

The board of administrators of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation decided to set up micro-containment zones following an alert from the health department to the civic body and the Bidhannagar commissionerate.

Among the containment zones is a 50-metre stretch in Salt Lake’s BF Block.

On Friday, traffic guardrails were put up to demarcate the zone. Each guardrail has “Containment Zone” written on it.

The guardrails had been placed along the sidewalk in front of the gates of at least five houses. A kindergarten school functions from the ground floor of one of the houses and a salon from another. Both establishments are closed because of Covid-19 restrictions.

All houses have multiple Covid patients in home isolation, said a civic health official.

Guardrails demarcating a containment zone placed outside a house in Salt Lake. Gautam Bose

Multiple micro-containment zones have been declared in Jyangra, near Baguiati, a 10-minute drive from VIP Road.

Krishna Chakraborty, the chairperson of the board of administrators of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation, said the objective of declaring containment zones was to ensure that people who had tested positive for Covid-19 did not step out.

“We have asked the residents not to step out and be indoors at all times. We have given them the phone numbers of our officials who they can get in touch with if they need anything. This is a precautionary step. We don’t want any increase in the number of cases,” Chakraborty said.

A senior officer of the Bidhannagar commissionerate said they, too, had reached out to residents and given them the phone numbers of policemen who they could contact for their daily needs.

“We have directed them not to step out and have given them numbers of our personnel if they need any help, such as buying groceries and medicines,” the officer said.

In Salt Lake, however, residents of at least two houses in a containment zone apparently sent their help and chauffeurs to markets to buy groceries and other essentials despite the civic body and the police repeatedly announcing that no one should go beyond the barricades.

A resident of BF Block in Salt Lake’s Sector I, where a containment zone has been created using guardrails, said he had seen several people moving the guardrails and stepping out.

Ankush Agarwal, 38, said he saw many people stepping out of the containment zone. “There were no cops posted near the guardrails and no one to monitor the entry and exit of people,” Agarwal said.

Supriyo Chakraborty, the coordinator of Ward 31, which includes BF Block, said some residents had alerted him about violation of containment zone rules.

“Many from affected families had even gone out to have snacks and tea at a nearby stall opposite the BF-CF park. We had requested them repeatedly not to go out,” Chakraborty said.

An officer of the commissionerate said cops were patrolling the containment zones and repeatedly asking people not to step out.