Mumbai, Maharashtra, India | 8th April 2020: Tough times call for tough measures, but these need to be implemented with a human touch. As humankind faces the worst adversity of his lifetime in form of COVID-19 pandemic, the measures to prevent spread of the virus as also keeping everyone safe and secure has been the priority. As we all are adversely hit by an unprecedented crisis, we all should stand united in solidarity to combat the crisis and make it a positive resilience. Stay Safe, stay at home is the prime motto to follow and win over the crisis as the time shall pass.
Most of on-going construction work by the Hiranandani Group is in existing townships, so there was a need to take a holistic approach while implementing the safety precautions. “The Hiranandani Group reached out to not just its human resource and labor at on-going sites, we have also ensured proper procedure in sync with norms and regulations issued are followed; as also working in cooperation with authorities so that optimum care of township citizens are taken care of,” said Dr. Niranjan Hiranandani – Co-founder & MD- Hiranandani Group.
First and foremost, reaching out to the segment of society which has no support or help – the site labor and the support staff. At on-going projects of the Hiranandani Group, site labor was convinced not to reverse-migrate; and precautions against the infection were immediately implemented. This was done by designating the Pest Control teams as responsible for reaching out to labor, support staff and security guards, as also ensuring safety and secure common and open spaces.
These teams have ensured that safety precautions are followed by site labor and support staff. It begins with ensuring the use of face masks, ensuring personal hygiene and hand washing sanitization process in place at the regular intervals. The group security and admin team have strong vigilance and supervision over the site control, ensuring strict adherence to social distancing guidelines issued by Govt of India. We have ensured that security staff and guards are provided with hand gloves, face mask and sanitizer to be properly equipped with safety gears. Additionally, we have made quarantine rooms arrangement for labourers if required at any given point of time.
“The biggest challenge is controlling any viral spread and ensuring everyone sticks to the prescribed norms. The site labor as also support staff for the common amenities in these townships and security manpower need maximum support, this needs to be factored in first; next in line are measures that ensure cleanliness and personal hygiene as also disinfecting common usage and open spaces,” said Dr. Niranjan Hiranandani.
From onset of the lockdown, deep cleaning of the townships has been carried out, with repeats every few days. Microbial spraying has been done at the workers colony, as also at all offices, commercial complexes and pathways. In addition, fogging of the entire township is being done regularly, as also ensuring that daily cleaning of the internal roads is being done.
The proactive measures like providing individual towers with sanitizers, soap dispensers at all entrances, equipping security staff and guards with security gears, regular sanitization at periodic intervals is put to place as top most priority. The inhouse teams have been sanitizing elevators and entrance lobbies three times a day. Also, thermal temperature checking of laborers is conducted on a regular basis to ensure their health remains our priority. We have ensured that labors at the site are supplied with daily grocery requirements, power and water supply, food distribution facilities in hutments is operated smoothly, so that they do not have to move out of the township, which may expose them to the contagious virus.
It is an effort that covers the entire spectrum within the townships, one that enhances the chances of winning against the COVID-19 virus. Together, we will overcome this crisis – we need a holistic approach, to ensure safety and security of our citizens.
Dr. Niranjan Hiranandani is co-founder and MD, Hiranandani Group. His latest initiative is Hiranandani Communities
