Jamshedpur: People from adjoining areas entering East Singhbhum district for Durga Puja will be tested for Covid-19 at all three inter-district border checkpoints, the administration said on Monday. Durga Puja pandals in the Steel City draw huge crowds of devotees and revelers from neigbouring districts every year.
The tests will be conducted at border checkpoints at the old river over-bridge connecting Adityapur to Bistupur, Pt Raghunath Murmu Domuhani-Kanderbera river over-bridge in Sonari and the toll bridge in Kadma have been identified for conducting the corona
test of the visitors. “All three checkpoints will have a dedicated camp equipped with Covid test machines and personnel,” additional district magistrate (law and order) Nand Kishore Lal, also the nodal officer for surveillance, said.
Lal said the decision is aimed at averting the possibility of another wave of infections in the district, which has reported more than 15,693 cases and 323 deaths, the highest by far in the state, till Monday morning. In the last week, the rate of infection has slowed considerably in the district and the seven- rolling average of new cases has fallen to 59 on Monday from the all-time high of 326 on September 9.
A senior official in the district administration said even though puja committees are not constructing designer theme Pujas this year, pandal hoppers and
revellers from neighboring districts — particularly youngsters from Seraikela-Kharsawan and West Singhbhum — could arrive here in large numbers. “Many of them will spend their Puja holidays in Jamshedpur and we are taking precautions to ensure the outbreak does not get worse,” he said.
The Jamshedpur Kendriya Durga Puja Samiti (JKDPS), the parent body of the 350-odd puja committees in the industrial town, has welcomed the initiative. “The testing at birders will attain two objectives —check the flow of crowds into the city and identify potential virus carriers,” JKDPS secretary Arun Kumar said.
Reiterating that not more than seven people will be allowed inside any pandal at any given time, SSP M Tamil Vanan said devotees visiting pandals will have to leave their footwear inside their vehicles.