Apart from their efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19, the Srikakulam administration is having to tussle with the issue of convincing migrated labourers to stay put in the quarantine centres for at least 14 days.
Reportedly, a majority of the labourers, who are restive, exhausted and desperate to go home, are not keen to stay in these centres despite all the facilities.
As many as 8,057 persons have been put up in 133 quarantine centres in the district. A majority of them are migrated labourers and fishermen from Viraval in Gujarat.
“Every person has to undergo tests and it is a systematic process. Unless we get the reports, we can’t send them back to their native places as it would endanger the lives of their family members and neighbours,” said a senior officer.
“Initially, they had agreed to stay here when the district administration initiated the process of bringing them back from Gujarat. We have to deal with them patiently as many of them have lost their livelihoods and are psychologically disturbed,” the official added.
Srikakulam Collector J. Nivas has reportedly directed officials to visit the centres and make the labourers understand the importance of their quarantining.
In Vizianagaram too, Collector M. Hari Jawaharlal said that migrated labourers would not be exempted from any rules and that following the mandatory 14-day quarantine is imperative, given the emergence of three positive cases among labourers a couple of days ago. He also said that any lapses at these centres might lead to community level transmission of the virus within no time.
Minister for Medical and Health Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas who reviewed the COVID-19 situation in Vizianagaram district on Saturday directed the officials to attend to grievances of the labourers.
