Returned Kashmiri students allege being kept with Covid-19 patients in isolation centres

We were evacuated from Gurugram on May 13 and have been kept at a quarantine centre in Pulwama with the students brought from the Shahdara area of Delhi which has been declared as a red zone, said one of the students in a video, which has also surfaced on the social media

Over 300 Kashmiri students housed in a quarantine facility in Pulwama town here on Sunday complained that they have been kept with Covid-19 patients.

Twenty five students who had come from Chandigarh and are quarantined at the city’s Lal Chowk area said that their samples were taken a week ago, but they are yet to get their reports. (HT Photo)

“We were evacuated from Gurugram on May 13 and have been kept at a quarantine centre in Pulwama with the students brought from the Shahdara area of Delhi which has been declared as a red zone,” said one of the students in a video, which has also surfaced on the social media.

“A Kulgam resident and his infected father are also admitted here,” he said.

The student claimed that he and others had even approached the authorities, but to no avail. “Our lives are at risk here. We demand our evacuation from this centre to another one at the earliest,” he said.

Alleging that no fumigation had been done at the centre, the student said, “The authorities have failed to provide hygienic food to us. Now, some NGO is helping us with it.”

“If facilities can’t be provided to us, why are these centres being operated? We should be allowed to home quarantine,” asked another student.

Twenty five students who had come from Chandigarh and are quarantined at the city’s Lal Chowk area said that their samples were taken a week ago, but they are yet to get their reports. “We were admitted in the centre on May 9 and it has become risky to live here as they are bringing more people to the centre every day,” he said.

“Favouritism is being practised here as many of those who had been admitted here after us were allowed to leave within two days of testing,” he alleged.

Kashmir divisional commissioner P K Pole said some Kulgam returnees have tested positive. “They have been shifted to an isolation facility and segregated from others,” he said.

Nodal officer for Covid-19 in Srinagar Dr Tasaduq said the results have been delayed as the testing was going on in different labs in the valley. “I am sure the students will get their results within two days,” he assured.

Thousands of students and workers are being evacuated to their native places following the directions of Union home ministry and a good number of them has arrived in the valley in the past few weeks.

Coronavirus disease cases in Jammu and Kashmir crossed the thousand marks on Friday, while the UT reported its largest single-day spike of 108 cases on Saturday.