Rajasthan: Strict curfew in Pokhran, banks will remain closed

TNN | Updated: Apr 8, 2020, 05:43 IST

SP Kiran Kang and other officers discuss the strategy for monitoring the areas in Pokhran on Tuesday

JAISALMER: Local people in Pokhran who had come in contact with the attendees of Tablighi Jamaat are testing positive for coronavirus. To prevent further spread, the district administration has directed police to strictly implement curfew. Medical teams have been sent door-to-door for collecting samples and a survey was also being conducted. All banks have been closed in Pokhran.
On Monday night, a government employee who works at a discom tested positive. Later, the district administration collected samples of 21 government employees the reports of which was expected. Around 109 people have been sent to quarantine centres.
People from the Jamaat reached Pokhran on March 19 and stayed there and took part in many programmes. Sources said that even after PM Narendra Modi announced the lockdown from March 22, many violated it and organised a programme in which a large number of local people took part. They also took part in another programme on March 30.
At that time, police did not get information and now they have swung into action to find out the travel history of Jamaat members and who all they had met. Sources added that ambulances were used to drop Tablighi Jamaat attendees to Pipad and Bikaner. Police have registered a case against one Yarun Khan for misusing his ambulance under Section 188.
Pokhran MLA and cabinet minister Saleh Mohammad appealed to the people of Pokhran to come forward and get tested.
On Wednesday, seven new cases came to light in Pokhran. Jaisalmer district collector Namit Mehta and SP Kiran Kang and other officers inspected the city.
The collector said those who had come in touch with infected people were being tested. Around 100 people have been kept at five quarantine centres in Pokhran. All media passes have been cancelled. Selected grocery stores have been asked to remain open who will deliver the goods at home after getting orders on phone.
Kang said Khan had dropped a Tabligi Jamaat member to Pipad on March 23 and again dropped three members to Bikaner on March 31 in his personal ambulance.
CMHO B K Barupal said samples of more than 100 people were taken in Pokhran who came in contact with the infected people.