Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, Apr 13: There are reports that the Arunachal government continues to face mounting pressure from parents and relatives to bring back the stranded Arunachalees to the state, even though medical experts are not enthusiastic about the idea.
Sources said that some of the parents have allegedly even threatened the officials working for various ministers, saying the government would have to take the responsibility if something happened to their wards.
“We understand their pain and agony, but there is a nationwide lockdown and we cannot do much. We have collected information of the stranded Arunachalees, so that some kind of help can be extended to them. But people misunderstood, thinking that we were going to evacuate them,” said an official.
Also, students who have filled up their stipend forms are expected to get their stipend money in the next few days.
“This will take care of their financial needs till the lockdown is over. But for those who will not get stipend, the government should extend some kind of help,” the official added.
Meanwhile, officials of the health department are highly skeptical of any move to bring back the stranded Arunachalees.
“We are finding it hard to implement the lockdown order. Imagine what the situation will be if around 6,000 people come back to the state around the same time. Our experience says that it is very difficult to keep our people under quarantine. The students, as well parents, make it very difficult for us,” said an official of the health department.
The capital administration recently announced that it is planning to convert various places, such as the PTC in Banderdewa and educational institutes, into quarantine centres where the Arunachalees who return from outside would be kept during the quarantine period.
It is reported that many of the institutes, which are located in heavily populated areas, have strongly opposed the proposal.
