9 Jamaat members from Delhi urge CM Arvind Kejriwal to facilitate their return from UP

Under quarantine in Uttar Pradesh's Deoband for more than 40 days, a group of 9 Tablighi Jamaat members from Delhi have urged Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to facilitate their return home following the Saharanpur administration's nod to release them upon completion of the requisite quarantine period.

The group members have claimed that they did not participate in the religious congregation at Nizamuddin Markaz in the national capital in March and their coronavirus tests conducted by the Uttar Pradesh government last month have come out negative.

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Residents of Darya Ganj, Karol Bagh, and Okhla in the national capital, the nine had arrived in Deoband in the last week of February and were sent to different quarantine centres after a number of Tablighi Jamaat members tested positive for COVID-19 at the Delhi Markaz in March.

"For more than 40 days now we have been in different quarantine centres here (Deoband). The district administration here is ready to release us but Delhi's borders with Uttar Pradesh have been sealed," a group member who did not wish to be named told PTI over phone from Deoband.

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“We are anxious to go back home but are afraid that we will get stuck at the border,” he added. In a letter to Kejriwal, the group said that they possess all certificates and documents from the authorities in Saharanpur for their travel to Delhi and have even arranged their own transport.

"We have filled a form provided by camp authority for permission to go to Delhi by our own conveyance. We request you to allow us to enter Delhi," the group said in the letter.

A senior officer of the Saharanpur district administration said that if a person has completed his/her qurantine period, he or she can go home on their own.

"There are many people who are stuck here (UP)… a state-to-state level agreement is necessary for the movement of such people. However, those willing to go home on their own after completion of required quarantine period can do so,” the official said.

On Saturday, the Delhi government had asked district magistrates to release over 2,000 Tablighi Jamaat members from quarantine centres and ensure that they do not stay in any other places except their homes.

The Delhi government had said that it would also facilitate ferrying of Markaz attendees from other states to their native places.