File image of Dhubri Gurudwara. Image courtesy: Wikipedia

The Sikh Pratinidhi Board, Eastern Zone (SPBEZ) has offered 40 rooms inside the premises of Dhubri Gurudwara Sri Teg Bahadur Sahib in Assam to be used as a quarantine facility in case of COVID-19 outbreak.

Sardar Gurbindar Singh, manager of Dhubri Gurudwara Sri Teg Bahadur Sahib said, “Following the decision made by SPBEZ, we have handed over the keys of 40 rooms to the concerned authority of the district administration with immediate effect.”

“At present about 8-9 persons mostly hailing from Uttar Pradesh, who had returning from Meghalaya have been quarantined here under the supervision of medical and police officials,” said Gurbinder Singh.

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He also said apart from shelter, the Gurudwara is also giving away langar or free food to all persons and health officials within the premises.

Meanwhile, nearly 325 persons who arrived from other parts of the country have so far been kept in home quarantine in different schools across Chagolia inter-state border across Bengal.

Ankur Bharali, additional deputy commissioner (Health), Dhubri said in order to meet any crisis in the wake of possible outbreaks of COVID-19, a 50-bedded isolation ward has already been kept ready at Dhubri Civil Hospital.

Moreover, the district administration in collaboration with the concerned municipal board authorities of the district namely Dhubri, Gauripur, Bilasipara, Chapar, Sapatgram and Golakganj has started distributing grocery and vegetable items among the needy and poor people and arranged vendors for selling vegetables door-to-door at controlled prices, said district administration sources.

Joint director of Health Services, Dhubri Dr S M Emdad Ullah informed that total 1661 persons have so far been home quarantined across the Dhubri district.

Mukesh Kr Singh is Northeast Now Correspondent in Dhubri. He can be reached at: [email protected]