Fisherman seeks HC intervention to set up testing facilities in Ratnagiri

The Bombay high court has directed the state to respond to the plea of a fisherman from Ratnagiri who has complained that ever since intra-state travelling was permitted,

The Bombay high court has directed the state to respond to the plea of a fisherman from Ratnagiri who has complained that ever since intra-state travelling was permitted, Ratnagiri had seen a surge in Covid cases. The petitioner has claimed that till April-end there were only seven positive cases, of which two died. However, after travel restrictions were lifted there were 108 cases. He further informed the court that as samples had to be sent 237 kms away to Sangli and Miraj, results were delayed, hence additional testing facilities should be set up in Ratnagiri itself.

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A division bench of chief justice Dipankar Datta and justice SS Shinde, while hearing public interest litigation filed by a fisherman Khalil Ahmad Hasanmiya Wasta through video conferencing, were informed by advocate Rakesh Bhatkar that the entire Konkan region had been declared a non-red zone since the Covid-19 outbreak. He further submitted that since travel restrictions had been lifted to allow stranded students and migrants to return home to Konkan and Ratnagiri, there was an apprehension that the number of cases would rise.

Bhatkar submitted the data prior and post the lifting of travel restrictions and said that there was a visible increase in the number of Covid-19 positive cases. The plea pointed out, “state authorities issued passes to migrants and 44,531 applications were allowed to enter Ratnagiri district and nearly 30,000 persons entered without official passes. As per government data, 29,259 persons are home quarantined. A district with a population of 16.15 lakh persons has six functioning hospitals, out of which two hospitals are reserved for Covid-19 treatment.” In light of the above, the petition said that the administration was not equipped to meet with the increased demand for Covid testing.

Bhatkar informed the court that as there was a shortage of testing facilities and samples were being sent to Sangli and Miraj which was already inundated with samples from other districts. As a result, the testing units there were unable to provide timely reports and hence testing facilities should be set up in Ratnagiri as per the ICMR list.

After hearing the submissions, the court directed government pleader Priyabhushan Kakade to take instructions from the authorities and asked him to respond to the plea during the next hearing on May 26.