The New Town authorities on Wednesday announced the winners of a contest that was organised to encourage residents of the area to try and make the township a better place to live in in terms of cleanliness and adherence to Covid-19 protocols, among others.

An official of the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) said the idea of such a contest was to encourage the residents to play an active role in community development and make their housing complexes and residential blocks a better place to live in.

“In most places residents blame the urban local body, which provides civic services in the township, if a road is not swept or if someone spits on a road,” said NKDA chairman Debashis Sen.

“We have organised this contest to change this concept and to make the residents feel that even their efforts can make a huge difference.”

NKDA had announced the contest in October last year and asked residents to list activities, with pictures, they had undertaken since January 2019 to improve the condition of the township as a living space.

New Town has 50 gated communities and 30 residential blocks, comprising co-operative societies and standalone buildings, across all three action areas.

The gated communities that were felicitated include the Uniworld City, Sunrise Point and Alaktika Housing Complex. The residential blocks that made it to the top are BA, BE, and BD.

Anjan Sen, the secretary of the Kolkata Uniworld City Apartments Residents’ Association, said they had taken a host of measures to ensure that waste segregation was done properly.

To ensure that residents segregate waste, “Tower Champions” have been appointed from among apartment owners and other residents.

“We had adopted strict measures when the Covid-19 pandemic was at its peak. We have also asked people not to bring in plastic bags...,” said Sen.

In BA Block, residents took measures like assigning volunteers to perform tasks such as supervising the cleaning of the streets and empty plots and keeping in touch with senior citizens who live alone.

“Our volunteers had also helped those who had tested positive for Covid-19 to get food and medicines at their doorsteps. We also carry out regular tree plantation drives,” said Prabir Majumder, the secretary of the BA Block Residents’ Association.

The blocks as well as the gated societies were monitored from January 1, 2019, till December 31, 2020 by NKDA officials.