IMPHAL, April 26 - As part of the government�s efforts to prevent trans-border movement of people against the backdrop of the COVID-19 outbreak, barb wire fencing covering about 220 metres along the Indo-Myanmar border in Churachandpur district has been completed, official sources said on Sunday.
The fence was erected at Pakmual area under Singngat subdivision in the hill district, the source said.
One company of the India Reserve Battalion (IRB) and police personnel from Behiang Police Station are patrolling the villages to check cross-border movement from Myanmar, the district information officer said.
Committee mulls mechanism to bring back stranded citizens: Meanwhile, the newly constituted state consultative committee for COVID-19 is likely to work out a mechanism to bring back stranded citizens including students from outside the state, according to another official source in Imphal. A meeting of the committee with Chief Minister N Biren Singh in the chair was held on Friday.
Appreciating the measures taken up by the state government for the prevention and containment of COVID-19, the meeting noted that thousands of people from Manipur are stranded outside the state due to the lockdown, and agreed that a mechanism for bringing them back to Manipur needs to be worked out, the source said.
Regarding people who do not need institutional quarantine, the meeting felt that community quarantine centres may be opened in various assembly constituencies to quarantine students and other people stranded outside after they return to the state.
The Health department is expected to assist the MLAs and local clubs in identifying the various locations and their capacities as per guidelines, the source said.
Discussing the importance of scaling up of COVID-19 testing, the meeting also felt the need to have in place clear-cut protocol for screening of persons returning to the state.
On April 23, a 21-member state consultative committee for COVID-19 was constituted to fight the dreaded virus. Two COVID-19 cases, which were reported on March 24 and April 2 have been discharged from the JNIMS and RIMS hospitals in Imphal on April 12 and April 21, respectively.