While the entire world is battling a severe crisis in wake of the Coronavirus pandemic, violation of home quarantine guidelines seems to have become a major cause of concern for the residents of Bokajan in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district.
Ranjit Baruah, a resident of Bokajan, is worried about his family and other residents as a migrant worker, who had recently returned from the South Indian state of Kerala; is not following the home quarantine norms and is loitering around putting the life of other residents at risk of exposure to the deadly virus.
Several such cases and complains of similar instances are causing fear and apprehension among residents in the industrial town of Bokajan and its outskirts areas.
According to the Health department that around 540 people, who have returned to Bokajan in the past couple of days have been properly screened and stamped for compulsory 14 days home quarantine.
The practice of affixing stamps on the palms of the returnees to identify them for home quarantine began a couple of days back.
However, over the weekend, hundreds of people including migrant labours have returned home from coronavirus hit Kerala, Maharastra, Karantaka and Delhi.
The administration and policing machinery have ensured proper compliance to the 21 days lock down but they are having a tough time getting returnees to follow the home quarantine rules as many who have returned from Covid-19 hotspots are yet to report to the competent authorities.
The Bokajan Fire Service department is carrying out a sanitization drive across the town since Wednesday.
All establishments which have been exempted from lock down like police station, SDO office, banks and others would be sanitized in the first phase.
Meanwhile, the Karbi Anglong police have distributed food items including rice, dal and soaps among a hundred daily wagers and slum dwellers near Dillai police amid the nationwide lockdown.
The one metre distance protocol was also maintained while disturbing the food items to create awareness of social distancing in this hour of crisis.