The Calcutta Municipal Corporation has prepared a directory of all housing complexes in the city with phone numbers of the office-bearers of the residents’ welfare associations (RWAs).

Similar directories have also been prepared for Salt Lake, New Town and Howrah. None of these places had any such directory before.

Senior state government officials said the directories would be distributed to the highrise buildings soon.

RWAs have emerged as a crucial enabler in the fight against the Covid pandemic and officials said the availability of such directories would help the associations consult each other during crisis.

The directories will have phone numbers of police stations, councillors and health department helplines, which the associations can call during an emergency, a senior state government official said on Wednesday.

“The RWAs will have phone numbers of important government establishments that can be of help in fighting Covid-19. Similarly, the booklets also make available the contact details of the RWAs to the police stations and civic officials,” a state government official said.

The secretary of an RWA in south Calcutta said consulting other condominiums on how to deal with an issue, such as allowing visitors or dumping garbage, would be very helpful. The directories, she said, will make it easier for the associations to contact police or other departments.

The distribution of the directories to highrise buildings and various government establishments will start soon.

The directories for Calcutta, Salt Lake, New Town and Howrah were released on Wednesday at the CMC headquarters.

“There are many elderly people who live in these gated communities but their children live in other cities or abroad. There have been instances when the elderly people did not find anyone to help them when they had fever. If the residents’ welfare associations have the phone numbers of the police or the health department, they can get in touch with them immediately,” said Alapan Bandyopadhyay, who is Calcutta’s nodal officer for Covid management.

“Similarly, if police or other government officials have phone numbers of the office-bearers of the apartment buildings, they can also get in touch with them” if needed, Bandyopadhyay said.

A CMC official said they had made large posters with phone numbers of the health department, helpline number to call an ambulance to transport a Covid-19 patient and phone numbers of police stations. “The posters will be pasted in housing complexes,” an official said.