Coronavirus: Vigilance squads to keep track of home-quarantine violators in Bengaluru

With the city witnessing over 470 COVID-19 cases in a fortnight, the civic body on Thursday launched vigilance squads to crack down on interstate travellers defying home-quarantine rules.

Ramping up surveillance activities, the government roped in Animal Husbandry Department Secretary Capt P Manivannan to head the squads, which will track people under home quarantine on a real-time basis through tech intervention.

The squads will track the movement of the person under home quarantine in their respective zones, BBMP Commissioner B H Anil Kumar said.

“The moment these people defy the rules either by stepping out of the house or entering the public place, the squads will crack down on them," the commissioner said.

At first, the violators will be warned. "If they continue to be cavalier, they will be put under institutional quarantine and will have to pay for it. An FIR with the police will also be registered,” Kumar explained.

Ninety such squads have been formed across different assembly constituency limits with 15 members in each of the squad.

Officials from revenue, enforcement and health wing of the BBMP will be the part of the squad. At the zonal level, the joint commissioners will alert the squad about the violation of Covid-19 Quarantine Alert System (CQAS) on a real-time basis, after which the squad will immediately turn up at the quarantine house for further action.

According to the BBMP, Bengaluru currently has more than 5,000 people under quarantine, including primary and secondary contacts and those with inter-state travel history.

The BBMP’s war room data reveals that the areas in West and East Bengaluru are severely hit. While the West zone has reported 144 positive cases with 11 deaths, the East zone has reported 161 cases with 13 deaths. The South Bengaluru areas have also added considerably to the casualty list with 113 positive cases and six deaths in the past few weeks.

Palike's initial Covid-19 containment measures had become a model at the national level. However, the sudden surge in positive cases and the rise in the number of deaths has left everybody worried.