Manoj Yadava, Director General of Police, Haryana
Raju William
Chandigarh, April 3, 2020: In about 48 hours, Haryana Police claim to have tracked down more than 1300 Tabligh Jamaat workers in 15 districts of Haryana.
The prompt action by Haryana Police in tracking these high risk individuals, getting them medically checked and lodging them into quarantine facilities, as per COVID-19 protocol, has significantly contained the threat of spread of Covid 19 disease in Haryana.
Director General of Police (DGP), Haryana, Manoj Yadava, informed that Haryana Police was alerted about the situation created in Nizamuddin Markaz, Delhi on March 31, 2020 by Central Agencies. Due to the threat posed by presence of Tabligh Jamaat workers, a detailed plan was prepared and all the district Police Units were pressed into action to track down the Jamaats (Parties) of the Tabligh Jamaat in different parts of Haryana. Clear directions were given that these Jamaat workers constituted a high risk group and should be handled carefully as per protocol.
As a result of quick and effective response, so far Haryana Police has been able to track 1305 workers of Tabligh Jamaat from 15 different districts of Haryana. Most of them were immediately placed under quarantine in various quarantine centers established by Districts Administration. Out of these about 500 Tabligh Jamaat workers admitted to having visited “Banglewali Masjid” located in Nizamuddin area of Delhi also known as “Markaz”. After testing eight persons, three each from Palwal and Nuh and two from Ambala, have tested positive for COVID -19 so far.
Providing further details DGP, Haryana disclosed that out of these, 106 Tabligh Jamaat workers are foreign nationals who have been tracked down from five different districts of Haryana namely Faridabad, Ambala, Panipat, Palwal and Nuh. These foreigners belong mostly to Indonesia, Philippines, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Thailand. All of them have been placed under quarantine and their passports have been taken into possession by Police. Five separate FIRs have been registered under the relevant provisions of IPC and Foreigner’s Act in these five districts.
933 Tabligh Jamaat Workers belonging to different States of India including Maharashra, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Bihar etc. who were in Haryana for Tabligh related work have also been tracked down and all of them have been placed in quarantine centers or in the Mosques where they were found. Their samples have been collected and sent to concerned laboratories for examination.
Finally, Haryana Police has also tracked down 266 Tabligh Jamaat workers belonging to Haryana who had visited different States for Tabligh related works and had returned during last 10 days to their villages. Since they are also potential carriers of corona virus, they have also been placed under quarantine. They mostly belong to districts Gurugram, Panchkula, Yamunanagar, Panipat, Nuh, Sonipat, Jind and Palwal.
One interesting aspect of this data is that about half of the Tabligh Jamaat workers tracked throughout Haryana were found in district Nuh. In fact, 636 Tabligh Jamaat workers including 57 foreigners and 528 from other States have been tracked down in district Nuh alone.
The quick Police action in tracking down such a large number of Tabligh Jamaat workers and placing them in quarantine coupled with seizure of Passports has been appreciated by State Government and general people alone for the efficiency and speed with which it was done.