Kokrajhar cannot be dumping ground for all returnees: BJSM

KOKRAJHAR: Bodoland Janajati Suraksha Mancha (BJSM) on Sunday strongly opposed the setting up of more new quarantine centres in and around Kokrajhar town and said the district could not be a dumping ground for returnees of lower Assam districts. The Mancha has asked the Government of Assam to take the returnees to their respective district quarantine centres to ensure safety of the people of Kokrajhar.

Talking to this reporter, the working president of the BJSM, DD Narzary said there was no valid reason to house the people returning to their home State from outside in quarantine centres only in Kokrajhar district. These people should be taken to their respective districts for quarantine and medical test. He said Kokrajhar district was declared as green zone but after setting up of a number of quarantine centres in and around Kokrajhar had put the district in great risk. He also said the government should change its policy and decision to take all returnees to their respective district.

Narzary said Kokrajhar zone was created consisting of nine districts of lower Assam that included Dhubri, Goalpara, Bongaigaon, Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa, Barpeta, South Salmara and Nalbari. He said the adjacent districts like Dhubri, Bongaigaon and Goalpara were declared as red zones and some of them had been brought back under orange zone and in that case there was no reason to take the people of those districts in quarantine centres in Kokrajhar. He also said hundreds of labourers from neighbouring Dhubri district used to come to Kokrajhar town to work as rickshaw pullers, masons, traders, contract labourers and other professions without any checking and the time had come to properly check them to ensure Kokrajhar district remained a safe zone.

"There have been local complaints of used masks, PPEs and other materials not being properly disposed off outside the quarantine centre in SAI Centre, Kokrajhar which is attached to North Kashibari village," he said, adding that in such a situation Kokrajhar district would no longer be green zone. He strongly urged upon the Government of Assam to arrange quarantine centres district wise and not zone wise. Meanwhile, the Kokrajhar district ABSU, Dularai Boro Harimu Afat (DBHA), ABWWF, Bodo Sahitya Sabha (BSS), ABSYF, GSU and ABMSU submitted memorandum to State Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday, urging him to take appropriate measures to set up quarantine centres only for the people of the respective district. They vehemently opposed the setting up of quarantine centres for other districts in Kokrajhar and said the people of other districts should be taken to their respective quarantine centres as early as possible. 

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