Bihar decision wrong, dangerous

The Bihar government’s decision to stop mandatory testing and quarantining of migrant workers returning to the state from June 2 is wrong, and it may lead to a calamity. If observance of preventive measures like social distancing is the responsibility of citizens, it is the state’s responsibility to do testing and quarantining of people, especially those who are vulnerable to the disease, and offer treatment to those who are found infected. Bihar has about 5,000 quarantine centres, and they will be closed from June 15 when those who were admitted on June 1 complete their quarantine period. About nine lakh migrants have been discharged after quarantine till now and about 5.3 lakh are still lodged in the centres. It has been announced that there will not be any registration and even thermal screening of returning migrants. The new system has already come into force.

The official reason given for the decision is that there is no need for registration and quarantine when restrictions on movement of people have been lifted all over the country. Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi has also claimed that “home quarantine is the best quarantine, according to foreign experts’’. Bihar’s policy on returning migrants has been negative or reluctant from the beginning. There were indications that it did not actually want them to return in the first place. There may be many migrants who may still go back to the state and if the state has no record of them and they are not quarantined, it will present a clear and present danger of the disease spreading. Many of the returning migrants are from hotspot states like Maharashtra, Delhi and Gujarat. Most confirmed cases in the state are of migrants who have returned.

There have been reports about the poor functioning of quarantine centres in the state and charges that some of them existed only on record. But if they are going to be dispensed with altogether, that may be a prescription for transmission of the disease to the community. Bihar has a big population and most migrants are from villages. If the virus gets into the community in the rural areas, there will be no check on it. When even the quarantine facilities are grossly inadequate for the incoming migrants, how will the state take care of many more numbers of infected people? The Centre has allowed states more freedom to take their decisions, but this is a case where it should prevail on the state to reverse a wrong decision.