Srinagar, May 28: The returnees to Jammu and Kashmir from other parts of the country and abroad have alleged that they are being considered ‘untouchable’ and lodged in quarantine centers, which are not sanitized, exposing them to health risks in Srinagar, where administration has hired a number of hotels.
They said that the trouble started on the day they landed in Srinagar, where only health department officials were on their toes. Meanwhile, security forces and police personnel were also strictly implementing restrictions imposed by the district administration to effectively break of Coronavirus chain.
The administration has hired a number of hotels in the Dal Lake and other areas in the city to accommodate returnees. However, a number of returnees, who have been accommodated in Indoor stadium turned quarantine center, alleged that they had to clean the hall themselves as it was dusty and unhygienic.
Shockingly, the quarantine centers were not cleaned or sanitized before accommodating the returnees, thus exposing them to great health risk. In some cases two to four people are more are allotted a single room, again a health risk.
People, including women, elderly persons and children, housed in a Hotel Grand Mamta at Bishambar Nagar on the bank of Dal Lake alleged that they were allotted a very dirty room. “There was dust everywhere, bed sheets and pillow covers were very dirty,” a returnee from Dubai Nazia alleged.
“I and my 8-month infant daughter besides my elderly parents travelled from Dubai to Srinagar on May 22,” she said, adding the trouble started when they completed immigration and Coronavirus testing.
“All returnees, irrespective of their age and a number of pregnant women had to load their luggage into Road Transport Corporation (RTC) buses without any assistance at the airport though authorities had made tall claims that all arrangements are in place to receive returnees at the airport, railway stations and bus stands,” she said.
She said it was around 2300 hrs when they reached the hotel after crossing more than a double security checks from airport. The drivers of these buses said they have instructions not to touch any luggage let the returnees load and unload their baggage themselves.
“It was again a very difficult task to unload the luggage from the bus and take it to hotel rooms, which were neither sanitized nor cleaned,” she said.
She said that a hotel staff informed her that the earlier group of people in institutional quarantine had checked out in the evening on May 22. “We are just two people and have instructions not to enter any room of the hotel. No room was sanitized before allotting rooms to new guests after previous occupants left,” she was told by the staff.
