Over 1,300 Jamaat members traced to Haryana, had come before lockdown: DGP

The Haryana Police has so far traced over 1,300 Tabligh-e-Jamaat members who came to the state after attending the organisation’s congregation in New Delhi's Nizamuddin last month, said DGP Manoj Yadav on Friday.

He, however, said the Tabligh members entered the state before the nationwide lockdown was imposed on March 25 to check the spread of coronavirus.

“There were no restrictions in place when they entered Haryana. I can assure that no one entered after March 25,” the DGP said during a joint media conference with Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Vijai Vardhan and ACS (Health) Rajiv Arora though video link.

The DGP said a majority of all those 1,305 people, including 107 foreigners, who entered the state before the lockdown, came on March 14, 17 and 20.

So far, eight of them have been found to be COVID positive, the DGP said.

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Among the eight infected people, three each are in Palwal and Nuh and two in Ambala, he said in a statement on Friday evening.

As many as 636 members, including 57 foreigners, have been traced to Nuh district alone.

All 1,305 were traced to 15 districts of the state.

The foreign members were located in five districts of Faridabad, Ambala, Panipat, Palwal and Nuh.

These foreigners belong mostly to Indonesia, Philippines, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Thailand, the DGP said.

All of them have been placed under quarantine and their passports have been taken into possession by police.

Five separate FIRs have been registered under the relevant provisions of the IPC and the Foreigner's Act in these five districts, he said.

If any other violation comes to the fore during the probe, then charges will be added to the already registered FIRs, he added.

The authorities have maintained that nearly 1,200 of the Jamaat members who entered Haryana were from outside and belonged to states like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Assam.

The DGP said 266 Jamaat members belonged to Haryana, who returned after visiting various states.

Since some of them could be potential carriers of coronavirus, they have also been placed under quarantine.

They mostly belong to Gurgaon, Panchkula, Yamunanagar, Panipat, Nuh, Sonipat, Jind and Palwal, the DGP said.

When asked about the nearly 60-70 people who were in attendance at the Nizamuddin event and had been brought to AIIMS in Badsa of Jhajjar district, ACS (Health) Arora said, "As far the National Cancer Institute at Badsa is concerned, it has been declared as a designated COVID-19 hospital by the Centre."

“It is also the sub-centre of AIIMS, Delhi, and directly comes under the Centre," he said.

He added that only AIIMS or the Union Ministry of Health can give updates on who all have been admitted there.

The Tabligh-e-Jamaat's Markaz (headquarter) in Nizamuddin West had emerged as a hotspot of coronavirus cases, following which it was sealed and an FIR lodged against its cleric for violating government orders.

Giving details about the steps taken to combat COVID-19 in Haryanan, the DGP said they had deployed police personnel at all 162 entry points to the enforce the lockdown.

Police personnel have been deployed in the mandis to ensure that when people purchase essentials, social distancing is maintained, the DGP said.

In reply to a question, ACS (Home) Vardhan said 573 relief camps and shelters have been set up across the state to provide succour to the poor, especially daily wagers who have been hit hard by the ongoing situation.

As many as 15,850 migrant workers have been accommodated in 288 relief camps, Vardhan added.