Bajura, April 2

Although the government has imposed a nationwide lockdown as preventive and precautionary measure to fight against COVID-19, Sudurpaschim Province government has been violating the order by sending people who came from India and other districts to Bajura.

Bajura has been following the lockdown regulation as people have being staying at home and not moving out, except in case of emergency.

Chief District Officer Ganga Prasad Neupane said the provincial government has been sending people from other districts to Bajura. He said people should not be sent from one district to another and they should stay put in the same place during lockdown. He added that the flow of people entering the district had swollen. “But we have kept them in quarantine facilties,” he added.

Many people have been entering Bajura from India daily even during the lockdown period and the province government has let them enter the district.

Health Coordinator Dipak Sha at Budhiganga Municipality said that Bajura would be at high risk of infection due to people’s movement during the lockdown. He said the province government had been sending people to their respective districts even during the lockdown.

Seventeen passengers from Sindhupalchowk and seven from Attaraiya, Kailali, were sent to Bajura today.

Bajura Police Chief Tanka Prasad Bhattarai said initiatives were being taken to bring them to Bajura. He said people should not be sent from one place to another at this time as it was a violation of government regulation.

The province government has sent 26 people, who came from India three days ago, to Bajura.

Krishna Shahi, a jeep driver, who had gone to Kathmandu, said that police forcibly sent people to Bajura from Attariya in his jeep while he was returning from Kathmandu. But Achham Police stopped them at Chaukhutte.

Such incidents have put Bajura district at high risk of Coronavirus infection.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on April 03, 2020 of The Himalayan Times.