Patna, May 5:
With migrants returning in large numbers, Bihar has both medical and humanitarian crises to grapple with. Every migrant returning to Bihar needs food, shelter and also medical screening and quarantine. If there is a line separating the two crises, it is now blurred in Bihar.
While the migrants returning to Bihar has put the smile back on their faces, it has also put the Bihar administration on its toes as many of the coronavirus cases reported in the last 10 days are of people who returned from outside the state.
Additional Chief Secretary (Home), Aamir Subhani said Bihar has decided to add more stringent parameters to the existing MHA guidelines pertaining to Lockdown 3.0, which begun in May 4 and will continue till May 17.
Subhani said Bihar will have only Red Zones and Orange Zones and no Green Zones. According to the official, this has been done keeping in mind that students and migrant workers were returning from other states at a time when new coronavirus cases are surfacing from new districts of Bihar.
An analysis of the health department figures has justified the heightened concerns in Bihar. Till April 20, the number of coronavirus infections in Bihar was 113. On May 5, the number has touched 528. Incidentally, April 20 was when the Centre allowed selective relaxation in non-containment areas, including movement of migrant workers within the state.
Six special trains, each carrying between 1,000 and 1,200 passengers, have reached Bihar. This includes the first such train from Jaipur, which arrived at the Danapur railway junction in Patna on May 2. Nine more trains will be reaching Bihar on Tuesday. At least 15,500 people would return to Bihar on these trains.
Left without a job because of the lockdown, the migrant workers are facing a humanitarian crisis. They need to be helped. However, as they are coming from states where cases of infection are higher than Bihar, they need to be screened and effectively quarantined.
With migrants returning in large numbers, Bihar has both medical and humanitarian crises to grapple with. Every migrant returning to Bihar needs food, shelter and also medical screening and quarantine. If there is a line separating the two crises, it is now blurred in Bihar.
Some of the rise in coronavirus cases in Bihar has also been attributed to migrants who managed to “sneak in” during the second leg of the nationwide lockdown. In fact, there were reports of people riding bicycles, hand carts and even walking to reach the state.
In the last week of April alone, as many as 44 people, who tested positive, were found to have travelled from other states.
Bihar authorities have braced for the challenge. While serving the migrants is absolutely mandatory at the time of the humanitarian crisis, it is equally required to screen them and prevent chances of spread of any infection. Disaster management Department has set up quarantine centres at schools and government buildings in their block headquarters to house the migrants. There will be police deployment to ensure that they remain within the premises.
In addition to this, CCTVs have also been fitted in all these centres so that DMs can keep a constant tab on migrants and those tasked to monitor them. Each of the migrants will have to stay in these camps for 21 days now, in order to be make sure that they are carrying no infections.
Meanwhile, Bihar Principal Secretary Health Sanjay Kumar said the health department would also set up separate isolation wards at block levels where the disaster management department is putting its quarantine centres. “If any migrant worker is tested positive, he would be shifted to the isolation ward and treated,” he said.
On humanitarian grounds, the Bihar government is trying to arrange 8-10 such trains to come to Bihar on a daily basis from different parts of the country.
The 528 coronavirus cases were spread across 32 of Bihar’s 38 districts, with Munger topping at 102.
It was followed by Buxar with 56 cases, Rohtas (52), Patna (44), Nalanda (36), Siwan (31), Kaimur (30), Madhubani (23), Gopalganj, Bhojpur (18 each), Aurangabad, Begusarai (13 each), Bhagalpur, West Champaran (11 each), East Champaran (9), Saran (8), Gaya, Sitamarhi (6 each), Darbhanga, Katihar, Arwal (5 each), Lakhisarai, Nawada, Jehanabad, (4 each), Banka, Vaishali (3 each), Madhepura, Araria (2 each), Purnea, Sheikhpura, Sheohar, Samastipur (1 each).
Courtesy: India Today
