SHILLONG: Nongrim Hills Dorbar Shnong has criticised the government for lack of coordination by the district administration in addressing various issues concerning COVID-19.
While those who man many containment zones in the city are concerned about the government’s apathy in attending to the needs of the localities, the Nongrim Hills Dorbar said that the gap between the government and the local bodies at the grassroots is widening.
“Every decision is taken at the Secretariat. There is hardly any coordination with the Dorbar, BDO and the Health Centre here,” said BL Narry, the headman of Nongrim Hills, during a visit by The Shillong Times to the area.
A member of the Dorbar pointed out that there were three cases in the locality and though the matter was reported to the authorities, they did not declare lockdown there to contain the spread of virus.
“The Dorbar alone had to seal the compounds of the three patients”, the member said.
Later, when a single case of a tourist taxi driver was reported, the district administration declared it as containment zone, the headman pointed out.
“There is hardly any communication between the Incident Commanders, appointed by the district administration, and the Dorbar for coordination in the containment zones”, he said.
The government had declared the entire Nongrim Hills as a containment area without any consultation with the Dorbar which had inconvenienced the people.
This has prompted the Dorbar Shnong to take up the matter with the authorities. “Thanks to our intervention, the area of the containment zone was reduced from Lailad to Petrol Pump”, the headman said.
Another concern was the announcement of the containment zone on Saturday at 5 pm and the residents have been asked to be inside within three hours without giving sufficient time, the Dorbar members added.