GUWAHATI: A District Magistrate in Manipur is in the eye of a storm for allegedly flouting all standard protocols of COVID-19.
Three civil society organisations in Naga-majority Senapati district served an ultimatum on the state government demanding the immediate suspension of DM Somorjit Salam and set a 48-hour deadline which will expire at 6 pm of May 19.
They alleged that the DM had hardly cared for the COVID-19 protocols. He allowed 36 people to travel in a bus. Two of them have tested positive for COVID-19 two days later.
“The DM, making a mockery of government’s strict orders and SOP on border entry and quarantine protocol for the stranded citizens returning to Manipur, directed officials at the border screening point to allow these 36 passengers to pass by during no entry hours…
“… In utter negligence and endangering many lives, he allowed the passengers to halt and hosted dinner at a non-designated quarantine centre at a multi-purpose hall near the DM’s complex in the district headquarters,” the three organisations said.
They said people in the neighbourhood expressed deep concerns as most passengers were even allowed to move freely and get access to ATMs, tea stalls and shops. The passengers had left the place in the morning of May 14. The locals in Senapati were alarmed when two days later they learnt two of the passengers had tested positive.
The tribal bodies demanded the state government conduct a probe into the whole incident and book the DM under the National Disaster Management Act. They warned that they would be compelled to launch an “intense agitation” if the government fails to fulfil the demands.
The DM was not available for comment. He was said to be sent to home quarantine.