Police rope in border village pradhans to keep vigil

Tribune News Service
Solan, July 29

The police have roped in the panchayat pradhans of villages situated on the state borders to maintain a vigil to check the unauthorised ingress of migrants into the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) industrial belt.

The police have requested them to maintain a vigil for a few weeks at a stretch, given the existing grim scenario in the BBN area where Covid cases have risen alarmingly after July 5 when restrictions were eased. Though the District Magistrate has made it mandatory for industrial workers entering the BBN area to present a Covid-19 negative test report, the incidents of unauthorised ingress have increased.

“Police officials are holding meetings with the panchayat pradhans of border villages to hold thikri pehras to maintain a round-the-clock vigil to prevent the unauthorised entry of people from Haryana and Punjab. The measure, which was initiated earlier too, has been launched again,” said Baddi SP Rohit Malpani.

Checking the unauthorised entry of workers is a Herculean task for the police, as there are several escape routes on the inter-state borders along Haryana and Punjab. The incidents of industrial workers entering the BBN belt have continued and several labour contractors have been booked in the last three weeks.

Recently, a labour contractor, who had brought 33 migrant workers from Chhattisgarh in a bus without permission, was booked after 27 of the workers were found infected. They were kept in jhuggis at Baddi and were detected by alert policemen.

The Sirmaur District Magistrate on Wednesday declared new containment zones, including Bhangani gram panchayat in Paonta Sahib and select areas of Ward number 3 in Paonta Sahib around the house of a Covid patient. An area of Chhogtali gram panchayat, Miyog village in Kothia Jajar gram panchayat, Kanta village in Bhanat gram panchayat, Kanogta village and Tikkari ward in Ser Jagas gram panchayat in Rajgarh subdivision where four persons were found Covid-positive on Tuesday, besides some areas of Ward number 2, 3, 5 and 13 in Nahan town where eight persons were found infected were also declared as containment zones.