HC asks state to give details of Covid-19 testing facilities in all districts

The Bombay high court (HC) on Tuesday widened the scope of the public interest litigation (PIL) filed by a fisherman from Ratnagiri by asking the state to give details

The Bombay high court (HC) on Tuesday widened the scope of the public interest litigation (PIL) filed by a fisherman from Ratnagiri by asking the state to give details of testing facilities in all districts in the purview of the petition. The PIL had sought directions to set up full-fledged Covid-19 testing facilities in Ratnagiri after a rise in the number of persons returning from Mumbai and Pune which were declared hotspots of the novel coronavirus. The plea had stated that in light of the growing number of suspected Covid cases, the state should set up additional testing facilities in Ratnagiri.

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A division bench of chief justices Dipankar Datta and K K Tated, while hearing the PIL by Khalil Ahmad Hasanmiya Wasta, a 58-year-old fisherman, through video conferencing, was informed by advocate Rakesh Bhatkar that since the state allowed intra-state travelling during the lockdown, around 60,000 people from Mumbai and Pune had arrived in the Konkan region namely Ratnagiri, Raigad and Sindhudurg.

Bhatkar had further submitted that before the lifting of travel ban there were only seven Covid-19 positive cases in Ratnagiri, however the same went up to 108 after migrants and students returned from Mumbai and Pune. He added that as swab samples were being sent to Sangli and Miraj which are 237 km away, reports of suspected coronavirus infected persons were getting delayed and hence, full-fledged testing labs should be set up in Ratnagiri to avoid the delay.

After hearing the submissions on Tuesday, the court sought to know the status of such testing facilities in each district and directed government pleader Priyabhushan Kakade to take instructions regarding the same and inform the court on the next date of hearing on May 29.