The on-going COVID-19 pandemic has caught us all unaware and the initial phase brought in a lot of confusion along with it. Though it was much easier for corporates & Industries to close their establishment immediately, the same could not be said about Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs). Some of the challenges RWAs faced are: Entry of Visitors, Maids, Delivery agents, Car Cleaners, Attendants to Senior Citizens etc. Most importantly managing the employees who provide 24×7 essential services like Maintenance, Housekeeping & Security Services.
On one hand the challenge was to get these employees come to work and on the other, ensuring that they do not come in contact with the residents. Over a period of time, ideas, opinions and knowledge poured in from all sources and the RWAs in tandem with the Facility Management Service Provider were able to put in ideas to curb the spread of COVID-19 by practicing open communication with the residents informing them of active cases in the complex, sanitizing the area around the affected resident’s apartment, issuing advisory & guidelines to all the residents & visitors etc. Initial screening at the entrance and keeping a foot operated sanitizing machine came in handy in this endeavor.
During the initial surge in cases the RWAs ,on the suggestion of FM Service provider ,made logistical arrangements to retain these employees at site and restricted the movements of residents & visitors to a great extent. Another initiative was towards sanitizing all the common areas & lifts and barring residents from even going for their walks.
A step towards innovative thinking made them arrange for ATM mobile facility periodically and grocery/vegetable shops on fixed days of the week. In some RWAs even tracking movements of Residents was initiated and their travel record ascertained to help the local authorities in contact tracing. Volunteers from the complex helping the affected residents by delivering essentials to their houses ensured that the movement of people was curbed to a large extent. Like everyone, even RWAs realized that this deadly virus cannot be curbed but only curtailed.
Above all the major challenge was to stop panic being created which was dealt with by an open communication system, sharing information & ideas. And finally rewarding the employees who turned up to work putting duty over self, helped in keeping the morale high. If not for these initiatives the situation would have been far worse and going by the information available, most of the RWAs & the FM Service Provider have risen to the occasion and successfully mitigated the consequences to a great extent. The need of the hour is to do whatever is within our means to take necessary precautions and at the same time open doors for normalcy to return. Like, the greatest actor of all time- Mr. Raj Kapoor had once said, ‘the show must go on’.
