The Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) will allow the public to enter the corporation premises from Monday after keeping the premises closed for the general public for many days after several employees were tested positive for Covid-19 in the corporation.
According to the officials, barring the entry of the general public was an important step which was required to ensure that no local gets affected in any way till the premises is completely sanitised. Since the officials and employees of the corporation cannot halt working because it directly affects several tasks and projects, they were allowed in the corporation to work while taking all the precautions like maintaining social distancing, regular use of hand sanitisation and face masks, as informed earlier by Dehradun mayor, Sunil Uniyal 'Gama'.
Talking about the increasing cases of Covid-19 patients in the corporation, 'Gama' said that these are unfortunate times but everyone needs to be careful and nobody should step outside unless it's quite necessary. He stated that the municipal corporation was working even during the lockdown and it will continue to work for the people of the city during the present crisis too. Meanwhile, the temporary closing of premises also caused financial loss to Municipal Corporation of Dehradun , especially in the collection of the property tax which is one of the major sources of revenue for the corporation.
However, the officials have stated that they do not expect more revenue from the property tax collection this year. According to them, most of the commercial property owners are not doing well this year so they are not presently depositing the tax and since most of the residential taxpayers submit tax in the premises, it has also been severely affected due to restraints on public entry in MCD.
However, officials informed that the premises will be reopened for the public from Monday, considering no one tests positive for Covid-19 in the premises again.
