On close heels of the sealing of borders between Delhi and Haryana over transmission of COVID-19 cases, Punjab has now locked horns with Maharashtra blaming it for the surge in COVID-19 cases sparked by Nanded returnees.
The state has recorded over 200 new cases in the last 24 hours, with the state-wide tally 613 as of Friday. 197 cases are of pilgrims brought back from the Shri Hazoor Sahib in Nanded, according to PTI. The shrine has since been sealed.
Punjab health minister Balbir Sidhu accused Maharashtra authorities of being lax, saying that none of the around 4,000 pilgrims were tested for the coronavirus despite them being stuck there for around a month.
“Had they quarantined them, tested them before sending them back to Punjab we would have not faced this crisis situation. The majority of returnees were quarantined after being back but this huge number of people testing positive within a day of their return highlights trouble spelled by Maharashtra for us. We have now quarantined all of them, taken the samples and gone ahead with contact tracing”, said Sidhu while talking to THE WEEK.
He further claimed that Punjab will not repeat this folly and that all migrants being transported out will be tested for coronavirus and will be issued a certificate for the same. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh declared that anybody entering Punjab will also be medically examined and quarantined before being allowed to go home.
The Shiromai Akali Dal (SAD), which had through their senior leader sought the return of the pilgrims, has held the health minister responsible for the chaos and demanded his resignation. In an official communication, the party said that it was Punjab's duty to test and quarantine the pilrims when they entered the state. Sidhu, meanwhile, claimed that Punjab health authorities have the situation under their control with no dearth of staff, hospital beds or quarantine homes.
The Akal Takht Sahib in Amritsar has alleged a plot to malign Sikhs and is demanding an inquiry into the matter. The Takht Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh said that all the pilgrims were tested thrice in Maharashtra and were found negative while the moment they stepped in Punjab, the majority turned positive. He said that Nanded has only three positive cases till date and pilgrims in question had been involved in service since one and a half months and everything was fine but when taken back from homes and tested they suddenly came out positive.
“There was a race to malign the entire muslim community over the Tablighi Jamaat episode. We suspect a similar plot to malign Sikhs and demand an enquiry”, said Harpreet Singh.