Bhubaneswar: In what may be described as a setback to the state government’s efforts to check the spread of coronavirus pandemic, about 150 of the 195 migrant workers who returned from Surat recently fled the two quarantine centres in Ganjam district. While the police succeeded in nabbing 50 of them, hunt is on for the others.
According to reports, 195 Surat returnees were lodged at two temporary quarantine facilities set up at Janata High School at Beguniapada and Adarsha Vidyalaya at Ragapur in Ganjam district after they arrived in the state Saturday night. However, 150 returnees broke the gates of the quarantine centres and the barricades around them and fled the area.
Later, the police traced the whereabouts of 50 escapees and brought them back to the quarantine facilities Sunday.
This is the third such incident in the state so far. Earlier, 22 quarantined persons, mostly truck drivers from Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, had escaped from a quarantine facility in Rayagada district April 22 night. These drivers were lodged in a quarantine centre at Kerada village in the district March 30. Though their quarantine period expired April 14, they were asked to remain at the facility till the nationwide lockdown continued.
They were provided with food and accommodation; they broke open the window of the room and fled the area, said Vivek Saravana, Rayagada district superintendent of police. A case was registered against them under Sections 188, 271 and 34 of the IPC and an investigation was also launched. However, the police are yet to trace their whereabouts.
Meanwhile, Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy Sunday warned that if any quarantined person did not follow the rules or tried to get into issues with the organisers of the facilities, they would be transferred to quarantine facilities outside their panchayats. “We will deal with erring returnee migrant workers strictly,” he said.
Tripathy’s statement came in the wake of reports about tussles between inmates and organizers at some quarantine centres and some buses flouting the norms while transporting the returnees.