No quarantine for Hyd evictees

Vijayawada: The AP High Court on Friday directed the state government to “permit healthy persons carrying a ‘No Objection Certificate’ issued by Telangana police not only to enter the state but go to their homes without quarantine.

The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Friday directed the state government to “permit healthy persons carrying a ‘No Objection Certificate’ issued by Telangana police not only to enter the state but go straight to their homes without a mandatory 14-day quarantine period at state-run facilities as insisted by the health authorities.

The division bench headed by Chief Justice J.K. Maheshwari said that such people should be quarantined at home under the “surveillance of a doctor and police concerned.”

People who are medically unfit can be taken to quarantine centres run by the government, the court ordered.

The High Court intervention came at a time when the Telangana government, which realised its folly of issuing NOCs, leading to a humanitarian crisis on the borders, cancelled them and many people returned to Hyderabad from AP borders. “Shocked” over the Andhra Pradesh High Court judgment, the Andhra Pradesh government has decided to file a review petition. It fears that the High Court order might lead to a fresh bout of mass exodus.

“We will explain to the court that a centralized quarantine facility was recommended precisely because it is both feasible and effective compared to keeping individual surveillance on thousands of individuals scattered all over the state,” a senior state official told Deccan Chronicle.