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At least nine RPF personnel test positive for Covid-19 in Bengal
Passenger rail services have been suspended since March 22 and a national lockdown is in place since March 24 to control Covid-19 outbreak in the country.
At least nine Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel out of a group of 28 people who recently travelled on board a special train from New Delhi to West Bengal have tested positive for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), an official statement said on Friday.
The ministry of railways said that the 28 RPF personnel travelled by the special parcel train and later took a bus to Kharagpur in West Bengal on April 14. Out of these, nine RPF personnel were detected to have contracted Covid-19.
“It is also clarified that these RPF personnel, while undertaking journey, did not come in contact with any public. There has not been any violation of the guidelines issued for management of Covid-19 by the central government or any state government. Nonetheless, a fact-finding committee has been constituted to ascertain the circumstances under which some of the RPF personnel of the contingent got infected,” the railway ministry said in a statement.
“The RPF contingent of South Eastern Railway (SER) left Kharagpur for Anand Vihar on March 19 by train number 12443 with a purpose to collect ammunition for RPF of the South Eastern Railway zone. The contingent arrived at Anand Vihar on March 20.The ammunition collecting contingent arrived at Railway Protection Special Force (RPSF) 6 Battalion (BN) Dayabasti to deposit arms on 20th March 2020,” it added.
Passenger rail services have been suspended since March 22 and a national lockdown is in place since March 24 to control Covid-19 outbreak in the country. The government said that the members of the contingent, therefore, stayed from March 19 to April 12 at the RPF’s barracks in Dayabasti, Delhi.
“It was decided to run parcel special trains for transportation of essential goods during lockdown. Subsequently, the parcel special trains started from March 31. Since there was scarcity of ammunition with RPF in SER, the ammunition collecting contingent was advised to move by suitable parcel train from Delhi. It is pertinent to note that the on duty movement of armed forces was exempted from the restrictions imposed during the lockdown,” the ministry said.
An official said on condition of anonymity that the test results of four others were still awaited.
The contingent collected their arms and stock of ammunition on April 12 and proceeded by a parcel special train on April 13 from New Delhi railway station to the Howrah Junction railway station in Kolkata. They reached Howrah on April 14 around 8am and boarded a bus to Kharagpur, officials said. “Staff posted at en-route stations deboarded from the bus during the road journey. They were quarantined in respective barracks. Rest of the staff with ammunition were taken to Kharagpur. The bus arrived at Kharagpur at 13.30 hrs of 14th April. One constable boarded another parcel train from Kharagpur and reached Balasore on 14th night. He was also quarantined like other staff. He developed slight fever on 15th and was taken to Government Hospital Balasore on April 16 where he was tested positive,” the ministry said.
Subsequently, he was kept in quarantine in a separate room at the RPF barracks in Balasore, Odisha, and tested positive on April 20. After that, the rest of the staff was tested, the ministry said.
