Guwahati Central Jail declared as Containment Zone after inmates test COVID-19 positive

Guwahati: A day after as many as 19 COVID-19 cases were detected in the Central Jail in Lokhra, the premises has been tagged as a Containment Zone by the Kamrup (Metro) district administration on Saturday, July 11. Consequently, the Deputy Commissioner Biswajit Pegu has directed the Circle Officer of the Dispur Revenue Circle to seal the zone.

The boundary of the Containment Zone are as follows:

East: SSB Camp and Assam Police Plot

West: Main Gate of Central Jail

North: Residence of Sri Hiren Teron and Office of the Coffee Board

South: Adjacent Road to central jail

The unauthorized entry and exit into the notified Containment Zone have been barred until the area is declared safe as per guidelines of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, said Pegu, also the chairman of the Kamrup Metropolitan District Disaster Management Authority. The Kamrup (M) DC has ordained that all statutory and other direction regarding the maintenance of social distancing shall be enforced in the area. All restrictions will be enforced in the area until it is declared as "safe" again, as per the guidelines of the Union ministry of health and family welfare.

It needs mention here that several key figures -- such as Krishak Mukti leaders Dhaijya Konwar and Bitu Sonowal and NDFB Chief Ranjan Daimary -- have tested positive within the campus of the jail within 24 hours.

The jail, it may be recalled, had declared as containment zone after a jail inmate tested coronavirus positive, an official said. Jail sources said that the prisoner who had tested Covid-19 had been arrested earlier in the week on charges of theft and was brought to the jail with six other people on June 1 after a local court sent them to judicial custody.

Assam has six Central jails, 22 district jails, one open air jail, one special jail, one sub-jail and six detention centres for "declared foreigners".

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