Bhawani Bhatta

The District Administration Office in Kanchanpur has sent all the returnees who entered the district through various border points this week to their respective local units. The local administration conducted rapid diagnostic tests on them before sending them to their hometowns on Wednesday and Thursday on condition that they spend 14 days at a quarantine facility at their respective local units.

According to the District Administration Office, homebound migrant workers had started arriving at the bordering Indian villages from various parts of India around one and a half months ago.

“Indian security personnel have started releasing the stranded people into the no-man’s land area. On Sunday night, 75 individuals entered Nepal whereas 167 more entered on Monday night from Brahmadev,” said Bir Sigh Sahu, superintendent of police of the Armed Police Force in Jhalari. “Once in Nepal, they were kept at a quarantine facility at Baijnath Secondary School in Mahendranagar.”

Gokarna Prasad Upadhyay, the assistant chief district officer, said all rapid diagnostic test results conducted on the returnees came out negative.

“We conducted rapid diagnostic tests on the returnees in Mahendranagar and sent them home only after their test results came negative,” said Upadhyay.

Authorities in the district have so far rescued 242 stranded migrant workers who had spent more than a month at various quarantine facilities in India. However, the number of homebound Nepalis reaching the border areas has swelled in the last few days. Over 60 people are waiting at the no man’s land area along the Mahakali border to enter the country.

According to Siddharaj Bhatta, the public health officer at the District Health Office in Kanchanpur, swab samples of 35 individuals have been collected from Dodhara Chandani in Bhimdutta Municipality to be tested for coronavirus.

“We are also going to collect swab samples of 27 people who swam across the river to enter the country. We will not release them until their lab results come out,” said Bhatta.

On Thursday alone, two individuals swam across the Mahakali river to enter Nepal. Both of them are kept at a quarantine facility in Baijnath. Currently, there are around 500 Nepalis in Khatima, Uttarakhand, waiting to go home.

According to Dipak Phulera, a local journalist, around 200 Nepalis reached Khatima from various Indian cities on Thursday and Friday.

“The locals of Khatima have made arrangements for food and shelter for them,” said Phulera.

Published on: 16 May 2020 | The Kathmandu Post