Rajasthan minister orders roads at border dug up to block entry of people

Joychen Joseph | TNN | Updated: May 5, 2020, 14:22 IST

Subhash Garg, minister of state for medical and health, Rajasthan

JAIPUR: Rajasthan health minister on Monday ordered officials to hire earthmovers to dig up roads at the border, to block the entry of people and vehicles from UP.
“No person should enter Bharatpur district from UP other than on medical grounds. Use earthmovers to dig up pits to ban the movement of vehicles from UP side,” Subhash Garg, minister of state for medical and health, was quoted as saying in an official release by the state government.
Garg, who hails from Bharatpur, said vehicles must travel without valid permits and that many people from UP villages enter Bharatpur along unmetalled roads on motor cycles, which is not possible for police to check. He charged that some of those people were active in bootlegging.
“I directed the administration to dig up roads, so that no one from that side enters Rajasthan,” the minister said. He blamed the spurt in Covid-19 cases is Bharatpur on the illegal entry of people from Agra.
The minister was inspecting the check posts bordering Bharatpur district’s curfew areas and directed the police and administrative officials to seal the border with neighbouring Agra district which is a hotspot. Bharatpur is one of the red zones in Rajasthan and has reported 114 Covid-19 cases so far.