Senapati organisations demand suspension of DC

Our Correspondent
Kohima, May 17 (EMN): Two returnees from Mumbai who took shelter at Senapati in Manipur on May 13 tested positive for Covid-19 on May 16, creating a commotion in the town.

A student leader in Senapati, Pung Mark, informed Eastern Mirror on Sunday that a bus and an ambulance from Mumbai reached Manipur (Mao Gate) on the evening of May 13 and on the same night, they went to Senapati.

Some of the returnees were from Imphal and some were from Moreh, he said.

They requested the deputy commissioner (DC) of Senapati district to stay overnight, and were provided with food and shelter at a multipurpose hall, located opposite to the DC’s office.

Thirty-six of them took shelter for the night and left the next morning, Mark said.

He also informed that there will be a total “district lockdown” for 48 hours starting from 6 am of May 18 till 6 am of May 20.

Mark further informed that all the people who came in contact with those returnees are under home quarantine.

On the day of their arrival, it was late at night so not many people came in direct contact with them except for the DC and the staff who helped them, he said.

A reliable source from Mao Gate informed this newspaper that all the returnees from Mumbai were screened at the entry point that day.

The source said that the returnees came from Mumbai on May 13, and at the entry point, they were gathered in a group, and when the SDO came and asked them to move out and maintain social distancing, one of them started arguing with the officer.

The argument continued until the SDO asked his fellow policemen “to beat the returnee”, but before the police personnel could get hold of him, he managed to leave.

The Home department of Manipur government has issued a new order that no vehicles should be sent to Imphal after 4 pm. So, the returnees were about to be sent to the Mao quarantine centre at Jawahar Navodaya Vidhyala, which is about 3 km away from the screening point, he said.

“But the bus that they came on was a Volvo. So the driver said that they cannot pass through the road to the quarantine centre as it is in the hilltop and the roads are a little narrow and not very good,” the source informed.

“After that the Senapati DC asked the SDO to provide them food at the screening point, but after a while the DC called up again and informed that they will keep the returnees in Senapati, and that is how they proceeded to Senapati,” the source added.

An ultimatum signed by the presidents of NPO, SDWA and SDSA was submitted to the chief minister of Manipur, N Biren Singh on Sunday, May 17.

The CSOs in their ultimatum demanded “immediate suspension” of the DC from service and conduct an inquiry into the ‘whole unwanted incident’ and book the officer under National Disaster Management Act of 2005.

“The DC, making a mockery of government’s strict orders and SOP on border entry and quarantine protocol for those stranded citizens returning to Manipur, directed at border screening point, Mao gate to allow those 36 passengers to pass during the no entry hour,” it read.

It also stated that DC had endangered many lives by allowing the passengers to halt and hosting dinner on May 13 at a non-designated quarantine centre (the multipurpose hall).

In the ultimatum, the CSOs gave the Manipur government 48 hours (from 6 pm of May 17 to 6 pm of May 19) to ‘consider their demands’.

They warned of ‘intense agitation’ in the event of the Manipur government failing to act on their demands.