'Why Were Positive Patients Traveling?' TMC's Derek O' Brien After 9 RPF Constables Contract Covid-19 in Bengal

Kolkata: Senior Trinamool Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Derek O' Brien on Friday expressed concern over nine Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel, who returned from New Delhi, testing positive for Covid-19.

In a social media post, he said, “Getting disturbing news. 9 #RPF personnel test + for #Covid19 in Bengal. 6 in Kharagpur, 1 each Mecheda/Uluberia. They all came to Kolkata from Delhi on 14 April by train. Why were positive patients traveling during #lockdown? WHO SENT THEM? Screening? How many people did they met?”

While six of them were tested at TB Hospital, the remaining three were tested at Ashwini Hospital in Cuttack, Odisha; Boroma Hospital in East Midnapore district’s Panskura, and ESI Hospital in Howrah district’s Uluberia.

The test results of the six constables came positive on April 22, while the result of the constable posted in Odisha came on April 20. The remaining two constables in Bengal were declared Covid-19 positive on April 21.

Eight constables who tested positive were posted in Bengal, while one was stationed in Odisha. Out of the total 28 constables who had travelled from Delhi, results of 15 constables have come out as negative. The results of the swab samples of four more men, who were part of the contingent, are awaited.

They were all quarantined at various government and private hospitals. Their condition is said to be stable.

On March 20, the RPF constables had left for Delhi in an important security assignment. On April 14, they had returned to Howrah railway station on parcel train during the ongoing nationwide lockdown, which came into effect on March 25.

Sanjoy Ghosh, the South Eastern Railway spokesperson, insisted that all the ICMR guidelines were followed in the case.

A top bureaucrat posted at the state secretariat Nabanna, said, “The Indian Railways should have avoided the movement of these RPF constables during lockdown. It is a matter of a grave concern because situation in Delhi is serious and these people travelled from the national capital.”

The bureaucrat added that they were looking in the matter and trying to trace their contact history.