Early Times Report
Jammu, Apr 17: Out of 3500 truckers entering Jammu and Kashmir daily only 150 undergo the Covid test.
Sources at Lakhanpur informed Early Times that as per daily reports and data entry of the truck operators, around 2100 to 2200 trucks J&K daily. “In these 2100-2200 trucks there are around 3500-4000 persons including operators and helpers. But majority of them are not tested at Lakhanpur. Only 100-150 truckers are randomly tested, while rest of them are allowed to enter the union territory without any testing,” an official deputed at Lakhanpur informed.
The official further said that many truckers, who have free entry into Jammu and Kashmir, come from states like Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana beside others, which fall under red-category states. “The truckers are selected randomly and not the truck operators from these red-category states have been tested. These non-checked truck operators have been visiting various districts of Jammu and Kashmir and could prove to be super-spreaders as they are intermixing with the population”, the official said, adding that imposing strict restrictions on the other travelers while allowing all truckers could prove detrimental to check the spread of second wave of the COVID-19 in the Union Territory.
“After entry at Lakhanpur, these untested truck operators are free to visit any part of the UT and get intermingled with the general population at dhabas, wearhouses, mandis, markets etc”, an official said, adding that on the other hand the labourers as well as employees have to wait for hours together and on Saturday, they staged protest but it was beyond comprehension as why government was not serious about the testing truck operators and most serious about entry of other visitors. |
