Srinagar: Flown from Iran and quarantined at Jaisalmer city of Rajasthan, the Kashmiri students are feeling more vulnerable to COVID-19 in the facility due to official apathy.
"I feel restless in the Jaisalmer quarantine centre with each passing day due to official apathy. We were put into quarantine for 14 days and now it has been close to 20 days. No one is telling us anything, it seems like we have just been isolated," says Ansab Nabi a medical student in Iran, who arrived in India on March 15.
She believes that the uncertainty is because the authorities did not isolate different people in the quarantine facility.
"We are not just students here. There are pilgrims from Qom, Iran, as well and some of them have tested positive recently," Nabi told ETV Bharat on phone from Jailasmer.
She further adds that there is a single eating place and just two washrooms for 20 people who have been kept in a single hall, which is part of a bigger block.
Ansab said that there are not only Kashmiri students kept in the Jaisalmer quarantine facility. There are more than 250 Kashmiri students in Rajasthan's Jaisalmer and Jodhpur quarantine facility waiting to go home.
According to the Rajasthan government data, there are around 170 Kashmiris in the Jaisalmer quarantine facility, of which more than 100 are students in Iran.
The Indian government evacuated around 300 students after March 14 from the country and, as a precautionary measure, the evacuees were isolated for 14-days at an Army Wellness Centre in Jaisalmer under medical supervision.
After the worldwide outbreak of novel coronavirus, Iran became one of the worst hit countries, where more than 3,000 people have died due to the disease.
However, the students are worried that those who escaped the outbreak in Iran by taking precautions have become vulnerable in these facilities due to the mix-up of different risk groups.
"We landed in Delhi on March 14 from Iran, from where we were taken to Jaisalmer. There was no segregation of pilgrims and students. We were all put up together. We all knew that since the pilgrims came directly from Qom, there was a high possibility of them being carriers of the virus. So we requested the authorities to quarantine us separately, but they didn't listen to us,"Abdul Rouf, another medical student in Iran, told ETV Bharat.
"There were at least six people from Maharashtra who tested positive in one block, which has only increased our fears. The authorities told us that since the blocks were separate even if anyone was tested positive on 14th day, only that respective block would get quarantined, and the others won't have to stay.But now they are imposing new rules," Rouf said, adding, "they are saying that we all will have to stay for more days. All we want to know is when we can go back home."
When ETV Bharat contacted the J&K administration regarding the delay in the return of Kashmiri students from quarantine facilities in Rajasthan, the officials claimed that the delay was due to the nationwide lockdown during which even inter-state travel was suspended.
"We are in touch with the Rajasthan administration, but we will have to wait for some time until this issue is resolved. We are taking all possible measures for the return of the people, including students, who have completed their quarantine period," a senior government official said.
The official further said, "The J&K residents should be patient and cooperate with the administration for some more time. We are trying our best."
While the administration is claiming to sort out the issue without pressing the panic button, the students in the Jaisalmer facility and their families in Kashmir, are reeling under anxiety amid pandemic.
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