Corona positive cases among NDRF, BSF personnel worry northeast

July 13, 2020

New Delhi/Shillong: Meghalaya is the new state in the northeast of India that has witnessed
surge of active Coronavirus cases among Border Security Force(BSF) personnel.

The state Health and Family Welfare Minister Alexander Laloo Hek said 55 new positive cases
were detected on Friday which include 52 BSF troopers from Shillong in Khashi hills and Tura in Garo hills region.

The state government has made it mandatory for all BSF personnel entering the state “from outside”
to undergo Covid19 tests.

In recent past, similar problems related to increase in number of cases among BSF and other central forces were witnessed in two other northeastern states of Mizoram and Tripura also.

“Of the 77 active cases in Mizoram as of July 12 (Sunday), as many as 54 are from BSF, NDRF and
other central forces. This is a worrying factor,” a state Home Department official said.
Mizoram – so far – had 227 positive cases of corona and out of these 150 people have been cured, he said.

“Most paramilitary personnel infected with the killer virus have been outside the state lately on leave.
Therefore, the central forces deployed in Mizoram have been urged now by the Mizoram Home Department not to grant leave to their officers and soldiers unless there is extreme urgency,” the official said.

The tiny state nestled in the wilds of northeast has seen a sudden increase in positive cases after 22 NDRF personnel at Lungverh near the state capital were tested positive.

The Aizawl district administration has also taken cognizance after the reports showed NDRF personnel had tested positive at the local Zoram Medical College (ZMC) laboratory.

Deputy Commissioner Van Lalngaihsaka quickly plunged into action and ordered that all those present in  the NDRF camp should strictly abide by quarantine rules and no one will be allowed to venture outside the camp.

Most NDRF personnel deployed in Aizawl are originally from the BSF posted on ‘deputation’ to the anti-disaster unit, sources said.

“It perhaps raised the fear about community transmission and thus the district administration actions make sense,” said a local resident Pu Laldin Shailow.

The district administration has also started ‘contact tracing’ and swab samples would be sent for examinations.

In Meghalaya, the state government has declared the BSF Meghalaya Frontier headquarters at Umpling
area in the capital Shillong as a containment zone and has decided to conduct random testings in Umpling, Nongmensong, Mawpat and Rynjah localities “surrounding” the  headquarters.

The ‘fear’ of BSF personnel getting tested positive came from another northeastern state of Tripura in May.

By the second week of May, as many as 121 personnel of the Border Security Force had tested positive for coronavirus in Tripura after a series of new cases had surfaced from three battalions of the BSF.

The elite BSF guards the 856 km-long border that Tripura shares with Bangladesh. The vital
paramilitary force has as many as 18 battalions posted in the state.

The BJP-led coalition government in the state has urged the BSF to conduct an inquiry into how the
virus has spread among its men.

However, things have not changed much.

In June yet again, there were corona positive cases among the BSF personnel.

Taking to twitter, chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb wrote: “43 people found POSITIVE out of 1250 samples tested.

Among them: 3 from 34 Bn BSF, 6 from 164 Bn BSF, 4 from 120 Bn BSF, 26 from 74 Bn BSF. Four civilians”.

Of course, the issue of a large number of coronavirus cases in BSF and other central forces including CISF, CRPF and ITBP were discussed at high level meetings by Home Minister Amit Shah with
senior home ministry officials in Delhi.

The centre has separately issued Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the central forces deployed in various parts of the country.

–India News Stream