Twenty-three migrant labourers who had returned from Telangana and tested negative for cororavirus escaped from a quarantine centre in Chhattisgarh's Maoist-affected Dantewada district in Bastar region on Thursday evening.
Superintendent of Police Abhishek Pallav said the villagers were agricultural labourers who were quarantined in Aranpur, about 7 km from their village Nahadi, which is situated in a Maoist hub.
The group included 15 men and 8 women.
“They reached Aranpur on April 22 and all of them were medically examined. They were held in a quarantine facility in a boys' hostel in Aranpur police stations limits,” said the official. They fled from there on Thursday evening.
The officer said a total of 47 migrant labourers came back from Khammam district in Telangana to Dantewada and were put up in a quarantine facility before they could be allowed to return to their respective villages.
“No symptom of coronavirus was found in these labourers,” said Pallav.
“We have informed the Sarpanch and Secretary of the concerned village panchayat but till now these labourers have not reached their village."
The official admitted that it was not possible for the administration and police to reach Nahadi village because it is den of Maoists. A special operation would be needed to nab them.
Notably, no case of Covid-19 has been reported from the sprawling Bastar division which comprises seven districts - Bastar, Kanker, Kondagaon, Narayanpur, Dantewada, Sukma and Bijapur.
A total of 59 Covid cases have been reported in Chhattisgarh, of which 38 have recovered and have been discharged from hospital.