TURA: Authorities in the West Garo Hills region have beefed up surveillance along the river Jhinjiram in the plain belt Phulbari region after several people have been found to have crossed over from Assam to Meghalaya by using the river route to gain entry. Subsequently, police have registered cases against thirty individuals who violated the COVID-19 lockdown protocols.
The use of the river route to illegally enter the region was identified after several persons, who had been missing from station since the beginning of the lockdown, suddenly surfaced in recent days in different parts of the district.
In Tura, a tea seller from the Tura bazaar was caught and questioned by locality elders after they found him moving about after more than two months. He confessed about his arrival by boat through the river from Dhubri Ghat in Assam to Phulbari last week. He has since been placed under institutional quarantine.
Similar stories about illegal entry surfaced from the Dalu region of the district after a woman revealed to authorities about using the same route to gain entry while another three persons were identified as having crossed the interstate border from Singimari town, on the Assam side.
“We have beefed up surveillance across all vulnerable points and registered cases against thirty people from Tura, Dalu and even Phulbari for violation of the lockdown protocols. They have been booked under Section 188 IPC for lockdown violation and Section 51 of the Disaster Management Act. We are going to file charge sheet against all of them for illegal entry once their quarantine period gets over,” informed West Garo Hills Superintendent of Police, MGR Kumar.
Though the authorities have since beefed up surveillance, there is concern that many others may have slipped through in the days before the river route was identified.
“Why was the district administration not even aware of this possible illegal entry point all this time? How come there was no surveillance team in place despite it being a known fact that the Phulbari ghat is used regularly by people to cross by boat from Dhubri? Many others must have already slipped through and only now the administration is waking up when the damage is done,” angry and concerned citizens from Phulbari said.
However, authorities have played down the controversy mentioning that any illegal entry cannot get away because on arrival in their respective localities they are scrutinised by the local community teams set up in each area.
