Inside Sealed Zones: Angst Amid Resolve

From Nizamuddin to Noida, Coronavirus hotspots see deep sanitisation, tighter patrolling & sporadic supplies of essentials

Jagbandhu Rai has been living in South Delhi’s Nizamuddin West for a decade. But he never saw “so much security” before. His is among Delhi’s 25 neighbourhoods that have been sealed, after being identified as containment zones, to check the COVID-19 spread.

“There was a lockdown for many days but it has become stricter,” said Rai, in his midfifties. “Now, they are not letting anyone move out or in,” said Rai, who lives in a house next to a Delhi Police barricading manned by three CRPF personnel armed with rifles and a box of teargas shells.

Tens of thousands of people like him living in sealed areas in Delhi-NCR remained cut off amid heavy presence of police, paramilitary and civil defence personnel. While angst was palpable among residents against authorities for not ensuring adequate delivery of essential commodities, people by and large resolved to cooperate amid fears about the virus that has infected 720 people in Delhi, leaving 12 of them dead.