Corona-free Nagaland offers citizens Rs 10,000 to stay away

GUWAHATI: Nagaland plans to maintain the present status of zero Covid-19 positive case status after centre resumed train services, which will facilitate stranded people return to their home states in large numbers. A worried state government has now announced Rs 10,000 to each of its stranded citizens who opt to stay put wherever they are located now.
“This is therefore a matter of great concern and a challenge for Nagaland which has fortunately remained Covid-19 free so far.Under these circumstances the state government has decided to give first priority and preference to stranded senior citizens and patients who had gone for medical treatment, distressed persons and those facing difficulties for repatriation to the State,” Nagaland chief secretary Temjen Toy said in a statement.
He added, “The Government has also decided to give Rs. 10,000 to those citizens of Nagaland presently staying outside who opt to stay back where they are at present.” Over 18,000 stranded people from Nagaland have registered themselves with the state government's portal to return to their homes.
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The chief secretary said in the statement, “The Government of Nagaland has been working making detailed plans to bring in people of Nagaland who are stranded outside the State in a staggered manner keeping in view our limitations in infrastructure for quarantine and other resources. However the Government of India's 11th May announcement on introduction/ resumption of special train services from Delhi and other major cities has thrown these plans out of gear.”
He added that the State Government is working on a new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) so that the required quarantine and other protocols are put in place before the arrival of the stranded and distressed citizens into the State.
“In the meantime, several civil societies, tribal hohos and NGOs have made appeals to the citizens stranded or staying outside the State not to come back at this juncture unless it is unavoidable. The State government appreciates these appeals, given the fact that states bringing in stranded people from affected parts of the country have resulted in the increase of Covid-19+ cases in those states,” he stated.
The chief secretary cautioned that systems have been put in place to check fraudulent claims and punish such dishonest opportunists.
Under the new SOP, those returning from red zones will be screened at Dimapur or Kohima and placed under 14 days institutional quarantine while those returning from orange and green zones, if found asymptomatic during screening, will be placed under three days institutional quarantine and then 12 days home isolation.
Nagaland has no Covid-19 sample testing facility operational. The state health department has completed the protocols to set up the state's first Covid-19 testing laboratory at the Naga Hospital Authority Kohima and the ICMR's approval for it is awaited. So far and the samples are sent for testing to facilities in Assam and Manipur.