THE Uttarakhand High Court Tuesday asked the state government to immediately issue Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) with regard to the opening of the Char Dhams – Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath to prevent their opening from becoming another hotbed for the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The SoP must indicate the procedure for registration of pilgrims, the number of pilgrims allowed to travel to each Dham, the accommodation which would be available for the pilgrims, the number of pilgrims allowed to enter each temple at the Dham, the court said.
A division bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice Alok Kumar Verma was considering a batch of PILs on the issue of Covid19 crisis management in the state.
The bench also issued a slew of directions ranging from increasing laboratories for testing to adequate supply of oxygen and Remdesivir injection.
It directed the state government to implement the following-
- Increase the number of authorized laboratories/clinics/hospitals which can carry on the testing for a larger percentage of population;
- Increase the number of testing being done in the big cities of the State. In the big cities, like Dehradun, Haridwar and Haldwani testing should be increased to at least 30,000 per day. To consider the use of other kits, besides the Rapid Antigen Kit, or the RT PCR tests, for increasing the tests being carried out on a daily basis;
- Increase the testing facilities in the hill districts of the State, the State Government should consider sending ‘mobile vans’ which are fully equipped for carrying out the testing of COVID-19 virus;
- The State should increase the number of Dedicated COVID-19 Hospitals. For, merely having five Dedicated COVID-19 Hospitals is too little to tackle the menace, especially when the pandemic is likely to spread and increase throughout the State in the coming months;
- To consider the feasibility of establishing temporary hospitals with the help of the Defence Research and Development Organization (‘DRDO’ for short), or with the help of any other Central agency. Since a few temporary hospitals have already been constructed for the benefit of Kumbh Mela, the said hospitals should not be dismantled till the COVID-19 pandemic is over;
- The State should also increase the number of COVID-19 Health Care Centres. Since, presently, the Health Care Centres are established only in twelve districts, the Health Care Centres also need to be established in the thirteenth district of the State;
- To increase the number of beds available in the hospitals. To ensure that the majority of the beds are equipped with Oxygen tank and sufficient numbers of bed are equipped with ventilators. If necessary, the number of ICUs in the hospitals should be increased;
- To increase the CT scan machines available in the State. At least, every Government Hospital must be equipped with CT scan machines. Since the Government Hospitals cater to larger section of the population, the Government Hospitals should be equipped with CT scan machines on war footing;
- To ensure that the PPE kits and other protective gears, such as gloves, masks, and sanitizer are provided to all the medical staff, especially to the Doctors, Nurses, Ward Boys to look after the COVID-19 patients. Until and unless our front line worriers are protected from the COVID-19 virus, it will be impossible for us to win the battle against the COVID-19 virus;
- To resolve the dispute between the contractual employees and the management. The Government should, on war footing, ensure that the campus is immediately cleaned and hygienic conditions are maintained in the campus.
- To take strict action against the erring hospitals for overcharging fee.
- To publish the names and locations of the testing centres, and the names and locations of Hospitals/ Dedicated COVID-19 Health Care Centres in the media bulletin on a daily basis. The media bulletin should clearly indicate the total number of beds available in each hospital/ Dedicated COVID-19 Health Care Centres, and the number of vacant beds available in each hospital. It should also indicate the class of the beds, i.e. the number of beds attached with ventilators, number of beds attached with Oxygen tanks, and the number of beds without any Oxygen tank.
- To immediately issue an SoP with regard to the opening of Char Dhams. The SoP must indicate the procedure for registration of the pilgrims, the number of pilgrims allowed to travel to the respective Dham, the accommodation which would be available for the pilgrims, the number of pilgrims allowed to enter each temple at the Dham. Moreover, the State Government shall ensure that the SoP issued by the Central Government and the SoP issued by the State Government are strictly complied with by the pilgrims. For, the opening of the Char Dhams cannot be permitted to become another hot bed for the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.
- To procure and to distribute sufficient number of anti-viral injection, namely ‘Remdesivir’, on war footing throughout the State.
The court said considering the fact that a large extent of the state is mountainous, and the fact that the villages and hamlets are spread along mountain tops, the state government should seriously consider the use of “mobile vans” which can penetrate the interior parts of the state for carrying out testing.
“Such steps have already been taken by the Government of Andhra Pradesh. There is no reason why a similar strategy should not be adopted by the State of Uttarakhand”, the court said.
The court took note of the fact that the rate of increase of positivity within the state, in the last one week, had been 6.4%.
“Taking this figure as the base figure, and extrapolating it for the near future, obviously, if this trend continues for another three to four months, not only Uttarakhand, but even the nation, will hit its peak after three to four months”, the court said.
The rough estimate, the court said, was that by the end of July, 2021 or the beginning of August 2021, six lakhs people could be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic within the state. “Thus, the present issue and the future concern is the level of preparedness of the state to fight the war which has just begun with COVID-19,” the court said.
