Lockdown Trauma: Returnee Doctor Denied Entry, Family Spends Night In Car In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: It’s getting tougher for those returning to Odisha from other states.

The number of positive coronavirus cases in the state has been rising alarmingly over the last few days and most of them are returnees from different parts of India. There is a growing sense of anguish and intolerance towards some of these returnees.

Dr Rakhi Singh, an Ayush doctor, learnt it the hard way recently. Having returned to Odisha from Hyderabad, she was not allowed to stay in a government quarantine centre, nor was she able to go back to Telangana.

Her husband Sudhir Kumar was forced to lodge a complaint.

He stated that Dr Singh and her children reached Bhubaneswar on the night of May 3 after obtaining permission from the state government and was instructed to stay in home quarantine.

But despite following procedures laid out by the Odisha government for returnees, she was denied entry into the Gandarpur area, on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar under Nandankanan Police limits, where her husband resides at a rented house.

She had informed the concerned nodal officer and police officials about the travel to her residence. Yet, the villagers didn’t let her enter the area.

Government approached the sarpanch, who is vested with powers of a collector during the coronavirus-induced lockdown period, but he refused to cooperate saying there had been no official communication about the doctor’s return.

Even Nandankanan police officials couldn’t help them, and the family spent the night inside a car.

The next morning, villagers started pelting stones at the family seeing them in the car and threatened to set them on fire.

The frightened family rushed to the DCP to seek help. Police officials found that the lady doctor’s Aadhar card had the address of Niladri Vihar, and registration with the government had been made accordingly. So then she was asked to visit Chandrasekharpur Police Station.

There wasn’t much help forthcoming from Chandrasekharpur PS as well. The family then urged the state government to allow them to return to Hyderabad. But that plea was turned down.

Back at the Nandankanan PS, police suggested they quarantine themselves at a paid hotel facility at the rate of Rs 1800 per day.

When the family refused that proposal, they were finally put up at an institutional quarantine centre set up at a college.

Asked about the incident, Police Commissioner Sudhansu Sarangi said that the matter is being investigated. He added that if needed, a case will be registered against local people who had opposed entry to the doctor and her family.