Community hall bookings blocked ahead of monsoon

According to a Corporation statement, between October 1 and December 31, residents would not be allowed to book community halls. “In the case of floods during monsoon, we have to provide shelter and food to affected residents. It is important to keep the halls free and unoccupied,” the official said.

When asked about the reasons for the decision, an official added that the civic officials had a hard time providing shelters to affected residents during 2015 floods. “To avoid this situation, we have been keeping community halls closed until the end of the monsoon for the past four years,” he said. There are 48 community halls in the city

As most of the community halls are located in and around slum areas, which are vulnerable to inundation, the civic body keeps the halls ready for the floods and the move has been helping the poor people for the past few years.

“Also, we have to follow social distancing at the community halls and we cannot shelter more than 50 persons due to the social distancing norms. So, we need all the community halls,” the statement said. It may be noted that the civic body closed the community halls due to the pandemic and reopened them for public only a few weeks ago.