BANKE, March 31: Nepali migrant workers coming from various places of India are found illegally entering Nepal through clandestine routes, posing health risks amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
People who had arrived in Narainapur on Sunday using the illegal routes have been advised to stay under home quarantine after doctors examined their health.
They had come from Delhi, Kanpur, and Punjab of India. The Nepali workers, mostly the daily wage laborers, have started returning home from various cities in India after it enforced a lockdown in view of the coronavirus threat.
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These Nepali migrant workers are said to travel to various transit points along the Nepal-India border in Uttar Pradesh of India, somehow, by means of the bus services that are operated from several states of India. The Nepali authorities are facing a challenge managing these entrants who also pose a health risk.
However, the local levels in Banke district have put in place plans considering the risk to public health from Nepalis sneaking into the country from across the border. In this connection, Narainapur Rural Municipality in Banke district has set up a 10-bed quarantine facility. Rural Municipality chief Ishtiyak Ahamad Shah said the quarantine facility at the rural municipality is full and another 50-bed quarantine at Nepalgunj is also full of India-returnees.
"We are facing problem managing the surging number of India-returnees," he said.
The Rural Municipality has sealed the border with India since Saturday for an indefinite period with the looming risk of coronavirus from India.
Despite this, the government has not been able to stop the exodus of workers entering Nepal. Narainapur is adjoined by Shrawasti and Baharaich of India, and the Indian health authorities have given information that coronavirus infection has been found in the area.
Narainapur Rural Municipality has stepped up security surveillance and alertness after this. It is said more and more Nepali workers working in Delhi, Punjab, Maharashtra, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and other states of India are coming to the border transit on their way home.
