Worldwide spread of deadly COVID-19 fear grips people in Numaligarh

NRL administrative office, Marketing Terminal closed

A Correspondent

Numaligarh: After the worldwide spread of the deadly coronavirus or COVID-19, fear has gripped the common people of Numaligarh in Golaghat district of Assam. People are panicking as those living outside the State are coming back to Assam in large numbers.

There are reports of two such persons from the Bukhial area in Numaligarh who came back from their workplace in Kerala and Rajasthan a few days back. They were showing some symptoms of COVID-19 and were admitted to the district civil hospital in Golaghat. But in a foolish act, both ran away from medical custody. Both are currently in quarantine and kept at the Bukhial tea garden hospital. It is not confirmed whether the two are COVID-19 positive or whether the required tests for detection were conducted before the two ran away from the district civil hospital in Golaghat. Meanwhile, hoax and myths are creating more fear among the people living in most villages in the Numaligarh area.

In a move to save its refinery from the effect of COVID-19, the Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) has taken many initiatives. Many inbound people, products and commodities from inside and outside India enter the refinery every day. To restrict possible transmission or outbreak of the coronavirus, NRL shut down its main administrative building on Friday. A temporary office has been set up inside the township for operating the essential works. The Human Resource (HR) and Administrative, Marketing and Finance departments have started working from the temporary office since Saturday. Except for the workers of the operation and production units, emergency services, all other entries have been restricted inside the refinery.

On the other hand, the Numaligarh Refinery Marketing Terminal (NRMT) was shut down totally on Friday. Fear of scarcity of petroleum products like petrol and diesel was circulated. However, the NRMT is now open and started functioning since Saturday. All the other works related to the expansion project of the refinery have been closed by the NRL authority. Deputy General Manager (HR) of NRL, Mintu Kr. Handique told The Sentinel that NRL would continue to work responsibly as per norms directed by the Union and State governments. He stated that NRL would also stand with its employees and local people of the area in their fight against coronavirus.

On the other hand, a nurse working in the Vivekananda Kendra NRL Hospital, who returned from a trip outside the State, showed some symptoms of the virus and was admitted to the isolation ward in the district civil hospital in Golaghat a few days back. The final medical test reports have come and she tested negative for COVID-19.

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