227 stranded in Gurdwara Majnu ka Tila rescued
NEW DELHI: At least 227 migrants from Punjab, who were stranded in Delhi due to the 21-day nationwide lockdown, were evacuated from a gurudwara in North Delhi’s Majnu ka Tila by the police and Delhi government authorities on Wednesday, officials associated with the operation said.
They were shifted to two government schools in Nehru Vihar in Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses, police said. Health officials will screen them at the schools, which have been converted into quarantine centres, deputy commissioner of police (north), Monika Bhardwaj, said.
The evacuation comes after 29 people, who had attended a Tablighi Jamaat earlier this month in South Delhi’s Hazrat Nizamuddin, tested positive for
Covid-19 on Wednesday, taking the total to 53 of the 152 cases in Delhi. The 53 were among over 2,300 people, including foreigners, who were staying in the religious establishment and were evacuated in the last two days.
On Tuesday night, the police received information regarding a gathering of around 300 people in the vicinity of the gurdwara at Majnu ka Tila. Upon confirming the information, the Delhi government was intimated and requested to take the necessary steps.
“Directions were issued to the district magistrate concerned and the deputy commissioner of police to conduct a joint operation in order to evacuate the gurdwara premises at the earliest. Once done, people should be screened by doctors. Symptomatic cases should be sent to hospitals and asymptomatic cases should be accommodated in the quarantine facilities set up by the government. All individuals will be provided with regular meals and other essentials. After that, the gurdwara premises should be contained and sanitised as per the Delhi government’s protocol,” said Satya Gopal, additional chief secretary of Delhi.
DCP Bhardwaj said, “All of them are migrant workers belonging to Punjab, but working in Delhi-NCR. They all took shelter in the gurdwara after the lockdown orders, as they had no way to return to their homes.”
A senior official of the government’s revenue department said, “The gurdwara committee should have informed the police and the subdivisional magistrate concerned about the gathering. A detailed report had been sought from the SDM and the government is likely to request the L-G to initiate the registration of an FIR by the police.”
In a video tweet, Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) president, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, said that none of the evacuated persons was there to attend a religious gathering or employed in the gurdwara.
“All of them had gathered outside the gurdwara from Noida, Faridabad and other parts of Delhi-NCR to board buses to Punjab, as many buses for their states run from near the gurdwara. They took shelter in the gurdwara as no buses were available,” Sirsa said in the video.