Kohima Municipal Council goes extra mile amid Covid-19 pandemic

Our Correspondent
Kohima, June 27 (EMN): Considering the need to take safety measures against Covid-19 pandemic, Kohima Municipal Council (KMC) has been sanitising public places besides catering to the needs of the people in Kohima city.

In an exclusive interview with Eastern Mirror on June 27, Kovi Meyase, the administrator of KMC, said that apart from regular sanitation works, the civic body has been spraying disinfectants continuously in the district.

“The spraying of disinfectants is done not only across Kohima main town but sometimes in the quarantine centres also as and when require,” he said.
Meyase informed that the PWD junction area, which was declared a containment zone, has also been disinfected following the recent report of a PWD colony resident being tested positive for Covid-19 from NHAK Covid-19 hospital.

Also on receipt of report that assigned drivers on Covid-19 duty in full PPE suits had stopped to buy eatable items from some shops at Kitsubozou and New Market colonies earlier this month, Meyase informed that KMC sanitising trucks were put into service for spraying disinfectant in those areas.

Meyase shared that the urban local body had also undertook spraying of disinfectants at the Raj Bhavan, Chief Minister’s Office and state Lokayukta office. He also added that KMC had dug a separate pit for disposal of Covid-19 related wastes at Meriema.

Protective kits and Sintex tanks provided

Meyase informed that KMC had also distributed face masks, gloves and PPE suits as well as cash to each of the 19 KMC wards in Kohima. He said the financial assistance was extended “basically to strengthen the sanitation committees in the municipal wards during this pandemic”.

He added that the financial assistance was made to further facilitate the sanitation workers in those localities as those basic protective kits provided to them were only of one-time use.

The officer also updated that the council had delivered 2,000-litre Sintex water tanks to all the 52 colonies in Kohima. He maintained that similar containers were provided to the New Secretariat areas.

Cash to 15 home quarantine centres

Meyase maintained that about 15 community quarantine centres (home quarantine centres) within KMC jurisdiction were provided INR 5,000 each besides providing five-litre hand sanitisers each and one PPE each to the home quarantine centres in the city.

Market price control

The officer asserted that the urban local body has become “more vigilant” during the lockdown period. “To the best of our ability, we have been able to check and rationalise the market rate,” asserted Meyase.

“Our frequency of inspection have also increased. We have also ensured that there are no hoardings and no artificial escalation of prices of essential commodities,” he said.

The administrator stated that they are also “constantly in touch” with DMC, so that they could compare the rates. KMC has also initiated the home delivery system during the initial part of the lockdown period.

On the sanitation front, he informed that about eight vehicles were pressed into service for collecting garbage in and around the city on a daily basis besides its normal routine in all the 19 wards.

Smart City projects underway

Meyase, who is also the chief executive officer (CEO) of Kohima Smart City Development Limited (KSCDL), asserted that 10 projects are underway in Kohima.

“We are in the 63rd rank although we started two years late,” he said adding, “We could not roll out any project during the first two years.”

Asked whether smart city projects were stopped owing to the lockdown, he replied that it was affected initially. However, he stated that some of the “local works” have began after the announcement of the Unlock 1.0 to uplift the first phase of coronavirus-induced lockdown.

Some of the local works like the multi-level car parking, beautification work from “box-cutting” near Kohima War Cemetery to Classic Island and community building in New Market colony have started.