The latest decision of the State government making institutional quarantine mandatory for people coming from red zones of other States has put the district administrations in a tight spot. Officials said monitoring people returning from red zones was tough in the absence of a centralised system to receive and redirect people from red zone areas.
“The returnees are assigned an isolation centre from the check-posts and there are no mechanisms in place to update the data with the district administrations. For instance, 165 persons returned to Kottayam from the red zones till 5 p.m. on Wednesday. We have been unable to confirm if all of them actually reached the quarantine centre as most of them were travelling either in taxis or private cars,” the official added.
As on Thursday, 500 people returned to Kottayam through the State’s borders. Among them, 202 entered through Walayar while 147 returned through Kumily. The check-posts at Manjeswaram and Aryankavu recorded the entry of 72 and 50 persons respectively.
Train for workers
The authorities have so far issued passes to 797 persons for returning to Kottayam and are slated to consider 1,580 more applications in this regard.
Meanwhile, the district administration has prepared a list of 20,998 migrant workers who want to return home.
Among them, West Bengal leads the tally with 14,092 persons, followed by Assam (2,455), Bihar (1,446) and Odisha (1,030).
Officials said the district administration was now awaiting a directive from the State government to complete procedures such as issuing medical certificates and arranging food. The trains are being scheduled at the State level and workers from Bihar and Odisha are likely to be the first to return as these two States have already agreed to receive back the workers.
“Workers from West Bengal and Assam may have to wait for some more time as the State government has not yet reached an agreement with these two States,” pointed out the official.
