Students, youths are breaking facilities, creating ruckus at Don Bosco; administration had to send magistrate 

Cachar district administration is troubled by the behaviour of the passengers placed under quarantine in Don Bosco School, Silchar. Deputy Commissioner of Cachar, Keerthi Jalli held a press conference earlier today and briefed about the situation. She said that most of the people inside the quarantine centre set up at Don Bosco School are students and youth. “They are demanding that we must provide them with a facility where there is one toilet in each room,” says Keerthi Jalli.

The standard operating procedure issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare suggests that in ideal condition there should be a toilet per room. But the situation is not ideal any more, “The administration needs to set up hundreds of quarantine centres overnight. In such a scenario, where will we get one toilet per room facilities in Assam or anywhere in India? Even at our homes, we do not have one toilet per room,” asserts Jalli.

The deputy commissioner informed that close to 8,500 individuals travelled to Cachar from outside and all of them have been put under quarantine in circles. “We have not been bothered as much by any other group,” says the DC. She adds, “They complained about the food, we called people at the facility and got to know that there is no complaints regarding the quality, the issue is with quantity. There was a shortage of food and that happened because the students, youths there grabbed three plates each instead of one. We have videos of the same, we are not releasing them as we do not want to put a face out.”

It is not only food and hygiene that the people placed under quarantine are making an issue of. The DC informed that they are not following any social distancing protocols, “Every now and then they start demanding to discharge them for home. One person from that group tested positive and there is no way we can discharge them before 14 days. I understand it is a difficult scenario but it is a challenging scenario for everyone. Yesterday, they threatened that they will touch the officers; they are not cooperating with the Police either,” added the deputy commissioner.

Keerthi Jalli said she had to send the magistrate last night to try and explain the scenario to the students and youth at the Don Bosco. “Normally, we do not allow anyone to enter a containment zone but I was forced to send the magistrate. He wore the PPE Kit and walked in risking his own life in order to restore peace, but even that did not work,” added the deputy commissioner.

While the administration is patiently dealing with the people placed under quarantine at Don Bosco, the deputy commissioner has warned that the administration will take actions if necessary. “They are young and getting excited. They are using the Internet, tweeting and thinking this is how the country is run. Well, the Cachar administration is responsible for the safety of 18 lakh people residing in the district. Under no circumstances, we will discharge them and put the population at risk. We have provisions through which we can take actions, but they are young. A FIR can ruin their career and that is why we are restraining, but there is a limit to our patience too,” asserted Jalli.

She said the owner of Don Bosco Silchar has expressed concerns, “They are damaging the facility built at the school premises. We have told the owners not to worry about all that now and we will take care of the repair. But this is really not done. I urge the people to reach out to them over the phone and explain a little about the situation. Assistant Magistrate is there continuously as if there is no other work. They really need to cooperate with us,” the DC concluded.