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Bus filled with corona patients "reached Cachar without permission"- strategic failure or administrative blunder?

For the most part of the lockdown period, Cachar managed to restrict the spread of Coronavirus to one patient who even got treated and discharged. Then came a bus filled with 45 passengers from Ajmer in Rajasthan on May 6, and boom… a 900% rise in the number of COVID19 positive cases in the district. The Health Minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma made it clear during the press conference earlier today that there is a possibility the number will further increase. Silchar MP, Rajdeep Roy hinted that the district might soon transition from Green to an Orange or Red Zone because of the sudden influx in the number of cases.

As informed by the Health Minister of Assam, the bus had left Ajmer Sharif Dargah on May 3, 2020, and reached Silchar in the wee hours of May 6, 2020. As per available information, the passengers were screened and upon finding them asymptomatic, they were allowed to go to their respective homes. The protocol in place back then said that any outstation passenger found symptomatic should be sent to institutional quarantine. Health Minister Sarma said during one of his media interactions, “The deputy commissioner will decide who should be sent back home and who must be placed under institutional quarantine.”

The first passenger to test positive from that bus happened to be a resident of the Thelamara area in Sonitpur district. What was he doing on a bus to Cachar? There are many theories and the fact is yet to be determined. Few say he boarded the wrong bus, while others allege that he wasn’t allowed to deboard. A section even believes that he intentionally boarded a bus to Cachar as he was running away from the local police in Sonitpur. He completed a term in jail and has several other cases of car-lifting, hijacking, and extortion against him.

On May 7, 2020, four more tested positive and so far on May 8, three more tested positive, taking the total to nine in Cachar district. Out of which eight were on the same bus that returned from Rajasthan.

Today, Himanta Biswa Sarma also said that the virus found in the patient in Ramnagar, who along with his family members tested positive yesterday, has a strong strain. One part of his briefing has come as a shock. The Health Minister said the bus traveled all the way from Ajmer through the heart of Assam and reached Silchar, “Without the permission of Assam Government.”

Moments after this statement, former Silchar MP Sushmita Dev questioned the position of the deputy commissioner of Cachar. “How can a bus with 41 passengers reach Silchar without permission?” questioned Dev. The All India President of Mahila Congress added, “When the Health Minister, Chief Minister, Central Ministers are asking residents to observe social distancing norms, how can 41 passengers sit in a bus and drive through to Silchar. What was the DC doing?”

She also raised a question that many others have been talking about. “When students were brought from the Kota in Rajasthan, the Health Minister went to meet them in the middle of the night and clicked photos with them. But when people from the same state returned to Cachar, they are directly sent home. Why is that? Was the Cachar administration sleeping when the bus reached Silchar?” asked Dev.

She has also urged for an inquiry on the matter. “People of Cachar district fought hard and followed the social distancing and lockdown protocols to safeguard themselves from the virus. However, due to this administrative failure, the people of Cachar will have to suffer extensively for at least two more months. Who will take responsibility for this? The government must enquire the matter,” said Dev.

Silchar MP, Rajdeep Roy spoke to us in between his meetings with the administration and he was of the opinion that this is not the right time to take potshots at each other. “Sonitpur resident boarding a Cachar bus was a blunder but that happened in Rajasthan. Apart from that, I don’t see any blunder here,” said the MP.

“We are in a pandemic. It’s a war and when you are in a war, you do not blame the warriors,” the MP concluded.

Meanwhile, Cachar DC Barnali Sharma has been transferred and Keerthi Jalli will replace her as the new deputy commissioner.

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