A train that traverses the longest route of 4,386 km across India became the cause of a major COVID scare in Assam on Sunday morning as scores of passengers stampeded out of a station evading the mandatory COVID-19 test.
Passengers from the Kanyakumari-Dibrugarh Vivek Express rushed out of the Jagiroad railway station in central Assam’s Morigaon district soon after the train arrived at around 10.30 a.m.
“We have sought the passenger list from the railways. We are tracing the people and by tomorrow (Monday) we should be able to locate them and get them tested,” the district’s Superintendent of Police, Aparna N. told The Hindu.
She said the station had a testing counter and adequate Government Railway Police personnel but the “crowd in the special train was much more than expected” and people managed to leave without getting tested.
“This unruliness was very sudden for the station that has regularly been testing passengers. At least 11 people were caught during the day for testing,” the district’s nodal officer for COVID, Romy Baruah said.
A Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) spokesperson said 133 passengers were to get off at Jagiroad according to the reservation chart. “But more people got down and fled testing,” he said.
Meanwhile another train brought in welcome cargo to Assam as a special train carrying 80 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) reached Amingaon from Tatanagar in Jharkhand. Amingaon is about 70 km west of Jagiroad.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and NFR general manager received the first consignment of the LMO.
