NAINITAL: The Uttarakhand high court on Wednesday expressed concerns over massive crowds entering hill stations of Nainital and Mussoorie and bringing the “dreaded” Delta plus variant along with them and asked the state to review its decision to ease lockdown restrictions during the weekend.
The bench of Chief Justice RS Chauhan and Justice Alok Kumar Verma cited several media reports which highlighted that at least 25,000 people had visited Nainital last weekend and that barely a fraction of the tourists were wearing masks or following social distancing norms.
Many tourists were entering without RT-PCR test reports and in several instances the reports were found to be fake.
The court recorded an undertaking by chief secretary SS Sandhu that the issue would be brought to the notice of the government. “The state is further directed to take concrete steps to control the inflow of tourists in the state,” said the bench. Sandhu has been directed to inform the court about the decision of the government, if any, about tightening of the lockdown during the weekend.
The judges were also informed that the state had recorded the first case of Delta plus variant. Health secretary Amit Negi, who was present before the court virtually, said the government had sent around 30 samples to the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) for genome sequencing and a sample from Udham Singh Nagar tested positive for Delta plus.
The bench has directed the health secretary to inform the court about the number of samples sent to NCDC, the results received and the steps taken by the local authorities to deal with the cases. The court has also asked Negi to inform it about the number of pediatric beds available in the state, the number of Covid vaccinations done so far in each district and the arrangement for vaccinating elderly and disabled people.
The court also took notice of the low stipend paid to medical college students interning with the state and asked the government to consider the possibility of increasing the stipend. The judges were informed that the intern doctors receive only Rs 7,500 a day in Uttarakhand while in neighbouring Himachal Pradesh the amount was over Rs 17,000.
“On one hand, according to Mr Amit Negi, it is difficult to attract the doctors to the state, yet, on the other hand, the stipend being paid to the intern doctors is too low as compared to the other states,” read the court order. The court has directed the government to respond on the issues by July 26.
