Bhubaneswar turns to community leaders to tackle Corona crisis

BHUBANESWAR: While the concern of the government elsewhere in the state’s hinterland is migrants returning from other states, the capital city is vigilant about people returning from abroad.
With two more flights to bring stranded people from Chicago and Kuala Lumpur later this month, the city authorities including police sought greater community cooperation to tackle evolving situation.The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation Commissioner (BMC) Prem Chandra Chaudhury, twin city police commissioner Sudhansu Sarangi and city DCP Anup Sahu interacted with community leaders at Jayadev Vihar and Sailashree Vihar.
Out of 151 Dubai returnees, who landed here on Thursday night, 23 are from Bhubaneswar and they have been advised 28 days home quarantine. The city though in red zone, has only three Corona active cases. The last three cases in the city were reported more than a week ago on May 7 (after a gap of 10 days) in three different locations. The BMC hasn’t created containment zone in those areas.
“All those, who have returned from Dubai will have to stay in their homes for 28 days starting from the day they landed here. The quarantine posters have been put up at their homes so that others in the community are kept informed. They community people are responsible enough and they won’t allow any violation of quarantine,” Chaudhury said.
The capital city is not likely to witness rush of migrants (the unskilled and semi-skilled workers), the seasonal workers who are returning to several districts. The city will mostly see students and professional coming here and they won’t be requiring much of government quarantine facility. They will mostly stay in-home or paid quarantine.
“We went to the community leaders because those foreign returnees, who will be staying in home quarantine, need support of the community and particularly the neighbours. The community leaders must understand the situation and help shun feeling of social stigma. They should also equally be vigilant to ensure that those in quarantine don’t violate the norms,” said Sarangi.
Around 25 representatives from Jayadev Vihar Sanskrutik Unnayan Parishad, N5 Development Council, Rameswar Barishta Nagarika Sangha and Jagannath Barishta Nagarika Sangha participated in the interactive session with the top city officials.
The information available so far with the government, the city will see more foreign returnees coming from Chicago on May 28 and Malaysia capital Kuala Lumpur on May 20.