Nanded-returnees made to wait for 2 hours on roadside

Tribune News Service

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Amritsar, April 30

The pilgrims who returned to the city from Hazur Sahib (Maharashtra) in the wee hours on Thursday were made to wait for over two hours before they were taken to quarantine centres.

The government had earlier announced a mandatory quarantine of 21 days for all persons returning to Punjab from other states. Around 150 persons who had been stranded in Hazur Sahib after the lockdown reached here in six buses sent by the government.

Veer Kaur, a woman from Ajnala, said, “We had travelled not-stop for the last 14 hours. We were forced to wait on the roadside for two hours outside the city.” She claimed that they had been screened three times in Nanded and insisted that as they were all healthy they should be dropped at their homes.

Another person Harpal Singh said, “The government should have made arrangements as it knew that buses are coming.” He added that there were many small children among them and it was very difficult for them to wait.

District officials stated that they had received a total of 600 returnees from other states so far. Civil Surgeon Dr Jugal Kishore said samples of 480 persons had already been sent for testing. He said while 23 persons tested positive, 307 tested negative. The samples of the returnees who returned in the last 24 hours had also been taken, he said.

Around 170 passengers who returned from Nanded in six buses in the wee hours today were not allowed to enter the city for two hours. The passengers complained that the administration should have made arrangements in advance instead of forcing them to wait on the roadside

Meanwhile, the district’s first positive case, 30-year-old Gurpreet Singh of Guru ki Wadali village was discharged from Government Medical College after 41 days of hospitalisation. Gurpreet Singh, who had returned from the UK, was admitted to hospital on March 21 and declared positive for Covid-19 on March 22. Besides, Ragi Darshan Singh (65-year-old), who had come in contact with Ragi Nirmal Singh, was also discharged from a private hospital here.

GMC Principal Dr Sujata Sharma said Gurpreet had tested negative in two consecutive tests after which he was discharged. The district reported fresh 23 positive cases on Thursday. Of the 14 cases reported earlier, seven had been discharged while two had died. The total Covid-19 patient count till date is 37.

Akali dal demands Sidhu’s resignation

The SAD on Thursday urged Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh to ask Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu to tender his resignation as the pilgrims who had returned from Hazur Sahib were neither quarantined nor tested properly. The directions of quarantining the pilgrims had been received by the district headquarters on April 27 even though the pilgrims had started coming in on April 24 and 25. It was unfortunate that the Health Department did not follow the ICMR guidelines, said Majithia.