Srinagar, June 17 (KNS): Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP) leader Abdul Rasheed Mir on Wednesday urged the district administration Budgam not to keep the COVID suspect persons under quarantine at far off places and instead use the available government buildings as isolation wards in their own villages.

In a statement issued to KNS, Mir cited the example of around 18 persons of Shah Mohalla who have been kept under a quarantine centre in a forest area at Arizal, some 50 kilometres from their own village Bamboora in Beerwah assembly segment.

“These 18 persons belong to around 10 families who are extremely worried about the wellbeing of their kith and kin,” Mir said, while appealing the deputy commissioner Budgam to intervene into the matter at an earliest.

The JKAP leader said that these 18 persons have tested negative for COVID-19 and they have almost completed the mandated quarantine period at Arizal quarantine centre. “I appeal the deputy commissioner Budgam to order an immediate shifting of these persons to their own village where they can at least feel more comfortable,” he added.

Mir said that keeping the suspected COVID patients at far off places for mandatory quarantine sends the wrong notion among the people who fear this official treatment and are compelled to conceal their symptoms, if any.

“The administration must facilitate a quarantine and isolation process for such people nearer to their homes which can in long run benefit the whole community,” he added.

The JKAP leader remarked that the people fear such hostile conditions and tend to disconnect themselves from the system which is battling to fight against the spread of COVID pandemic.

“Instead of keeping the suspected COVID patients at far off hostile places the administration should utilize the available government buildings for the purpose of their isolation. Or otherwise, the people will not cooperate and create difficulties for the administration to tackle with COVID cases in future,” he averred. (KNS)