Imposed to break the chain of transmission of coronavirus, the lockdown is already posing disruption in services across the city. The residents of a sevenstorey residential building in Kandivali are taking the stairs because the lift is not working and the maintenance staff can’t reach the housing society for repairs.
Tirupati Tower in Kandivali East has two wings – A and B. While the A Wing has a 14-storey building with two lifts, there is one lift in the sevenstorey B wing. Until two weeks ago the lifts in both the wings were shut for maintenance work.
While the lift maintenance for the A wing got over just before the lockdown, work in the Bwing is stuck. A member of the housing society, V Chandramouli said the maintenance of the lift had started on March 16. By March 21, 90 per cent of the work was complete.
He said, “That was a day before the janata curfew. But now the whole country is under lockdown. The lift company says no one can come for the repairs till April 14 as they fear being beaten up by so-called vigilantes and even the police, as being reported from across the country.”
Chandramouli said the society management has now written to Otis Elevator Company that is carrying out the repair. The letter states that the non-functioning lift is causing inconvenience to the residents, especially senior citizens.
“How can they abandon lift repairs? This is an essential work for any housing society. What if ours was a high-rise? Would people have climbed 30 floors?” asked Sandip Ohri, the society’s secretary.
“I normally go out in the evening to simply sit in the compound. Now I need to stay home as a preventive measure,” said 73-year-old H Chawla, who stays on the seventh floor of the building. Chawla said it would, however, be difficult to go downstairs in an emergency situation. The other younger residents said they are managing somehow but there could be emergency situations where they have to take senior members of their families downstairs.
An official from Otis agreed that the firm is receiving several calls for repairing lifts but are unable to cater to everyone. He said, “We are working to provide Otis field professionals with appropriate personal protective equipment. Our field professionals remain on duty making critical repairs, and to the extent permitted by applicable governmental requirements and advisories. We have special arrangements in place with customers such as medical facilities and government offices to support their needs while also protecting the health and safety of our colleagues,” said a spokesperson for Otis Elevators.”
