SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Dec 23: The mandatory RT-PCR test on the Jharkhand-Bengal border has dampened the spirits of picnickers and tourists visiting the scenic Maithon dam.
Every year, between December 15 and January 15, thousands of tourists and picnickers flock to Maithon, DVC’s Panchet dams, Topchanchi Lake, and Dhanbad’s Bhatinda Fall to celebrate Christmas and the New Year.
The Maithon Dam is a famous attraction for people from Bengal and Odisha for its natural beauty, blue water, surrounded by lush hills, Millennium Park, and deer park.
However, in the aftermath of the Covid-19 outbreak, particularly the Omicron strain, the Dhanbad district health authority has made RT-PCR testing mandatory for visitors at all border crossing locations.
Dr Rajkumar Singh, the district nodal officer for the Integrated Diseases Surveillance Programme (IDSP), said that while RT-PCR tests of visitors have been conducted at Maithon, Chirkunda, and Panchet check posts on the Bengal border for some time, the administration has directed that all picnickers wear masks while celebrating Christmas and New Year at Maithon dam.
A group of Kolkata journalists on their way to Maithon Dam for a celebration were stopped at Panchet Dam check station for an RT-PCR test on Sunday. Despite the fact that they all had certificates for both doses of Covid-19 vaccine, authorities refused to let them in.
The district government has intensified its border controls because there are 16 Covid patients in Dhanbad, all of whom have come from other states.
“We have intensified testing at the Bengal border since the first Covid case in Dhanbad came from Bengal (on April 8, 2020),” stated a senior official of the district health department.
Picnickers, on the other hand, are opposed to the forceful RT-PCR tests at the border. “This is nothing more than harassment of picnickers who come to Maithon Dam to celebrate. The authorities should believe that diseased individuals would not come here to celebrate,” stated Pamela Banerjee of Kolkata Jaggu Bazar.
Interestingly, Maithon dam boatmen, whose livelihood is dependent on boating, have backed the RT-PCR testing of tourists and strict adherence to Covid-19 requirements.
“Though the Covid-19 standards have hurt our business (boating), we are willing to lose in the name of health because we don’t know who is infected or not,” said Babloo Marandi, secretary of the Marang Guru Matsyajivi Samit, the committee of boatmen.
