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At a time when thousands of migrants return to Bihar every day and the state government is grappling with the Herculean task of their isolation, more than 70 migrants fled a quarantine center in Nawada district on Saturday, citing poor facilities and lack of food.
About 200 immigrants are quarantined at Inter Aadarsh School on the Sirdala block in Nawada district. On May 8, the sample test report of one of those migrants tested positive for COVID-19.
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On Saturday morning, more than 70 migrants fled the quarantine center, alleging poor facilities and a lack of food and clean water. Local television news channels broadcast images of migrants fleeing the center with their belongings. Some migrant women with children were also seen.
Local officials are said to be involved in his location.
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Similar reports of migrants complaining that food and drinking water were not served came from a quarantine center located in the Amarpur block in the Banka district.
Previously, more than 20 migrants had escaped from a quarantine center in Katihar district, in northeast Bihar. They, too, had complained about the lack of adequate food and services.
Videos of hapless migrant workers housed in quarantine centers and complaining about the lack of facilities, food, clean water, toilets, toilets, and beds have appeared on social media in different parts of the state. In one of the videos, migrants could be seen locked up in a center, claiming a lack of food and clean water.
However, the state government has banned the entry of media into quarantine centers. Recently, an order issued by the Munger District Magistrate instructing his junior officials to prohibit the media from visiting quarantine centers went viral on social media.
Panel to form
Meanwhile, sources said. The Hindu that the government is considering forming a committee at the local level under the Circle Officers (CO) to care for the quarantine centers established at the block levels. Panchayat members will also participate on the committee.
Previously, Prime Minister Nitish Kumar had announced that he had instructed officials to provide food, clean water, soap and other necessary facilities for migrants in each and every quarantine center.
However, the videos posted by quarantined migrants on social media tell a different story.
“The realities of the terrain are quite different from what the Prime Minister and officials have been announcing in Patna … the situation in the block-level quarantine centers is not only bad, but pathetic, where no one can even stay for an hour, “a local journalist from Katihar said The Hindu by phone
“Local officials are misleading their superiors in Patna and them before the Chief Minister or arranging so that large numbers of migrants arriving in the state have become an impossible task for the government,” said a retired professor at the University of Patna.
“Ignorance seems to be bliss for them,” he added.
The Bihar government has established more than 3,000 quarantine centers in different blocks of the state’s districts. The state disaster management department also runs more than 200 relief camps for them.
Bihar, so far, has reported 582 positive cases of COVID-19 with 300 cases recovered and five deaths. Of the total of 38 districts, positive cases of COVID-19 have been reported in 36 districts. In its seven testing labs, 32,767 tests have been conducted through May 8.
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