The administration of the prestigious Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA) here seems to have blundered by allowing the Europe tour of the trainees of the Indian Forest Services (IFS) at a time when threat from novel coronavirus was at its peak.
As one trainee has been reported positive for COVID-19, this mistake on part of the authorities has put the lives of more than 1,200 employees and their families residing in the sprawling campus of Forest Research Institute (FRI) where the IGNFA is located, under threat. The trainees left for Europe excursion on February 28 in four groups.
The destinations of these groups were the countries of Spain, Finland, Estonia and Russia. It is learnt that Italy was also on the itinerary of the tour planners but Italian authorities denied permission to the group due to the threat of virus. The trainees returned to the country on March 11.
Here administration of the IGNFA again erred by not getting these trainees quarantined in Delhi itself.The trainees including one patient of the disease traveled all the way back to Dehradun from Delhi exposing people they contacted to the threat of the COVID-19. In Dehradun, the health department of Uttarakhand was informed about return of these trainees from Europe following which a team was sent to the academy.
In Dehradun, two trainees from the group which had gone to Spain and four who have returned from Finland showed symptoms similar to COVID-19 after which their samples were taken and all the trainees were sent for quarantine. It is learnt that the samples of IFS trainees were taken in academy hostel itself which again is the violation of the norms prescribed for quarantine. The authorities went into tizzy when the sample of one trainee who had visited Spain was found positive for the disease on Sunday.
This trainee was rushed to the Government Doon Medical College (GDMC) where he is kept under the observation of the doctors. Invoking the powers given to him under the Uttarakhand Epidemic Diseases (COVID-19) Regulation Act 2020, the district magistrate of Dehradun, Ashish Kumar Srivastava ordered that ‘ A to E blocks’ and western wing of F block of new hostel of IGNFA would be a quarantine zone. Similarly, the eastern wing of F block was made an isolation ward. The administration has also made strict security arrangement in and around the campus.The efforts by this correspondent to get the version of IGNFA officials on the issue were not successful.
Medical experts opine that gross negligence occurred on part of the authorities in organising the Europe tour at the time when the hot spot of disease had already shifted there from China. Spain from where the trainee has got the infection has so far reported 8744 cases of coronavirus with 297 deaths. They fear that IGNFA could become the centre of spread of virus in Uttarakhand.