The Allahabad High Court on Thursday had sought report from the District Magistrate, Meerut on PIL which raised certain issues about the alarming situation in District Meerut due to the outbreak of Covid-19.
Division Bench of High Court comprised of Justice Ramesh Sinha & Justice Siddhartha Varma said that “In view of the same, taking into account the averments made in the presentPIL petition, we deem it proper that the learned Chief Standing Counselfor the State shall seek necessary instructions from the District Magistrate,Meerut in the present matter by the next date fixed and shall apprise theCourt about the prevailing situation in District Meerut.”
Petitioner brought to the notice of Court that the adequate measures with regard to restraining the spreadof Covid-19 (Novel Corona Virus) are not being taken.
Letter petition was filed before the Allahabad High Court regarding alarming situation at District Meerut, wherein it was said that according to a report of a survey conducted by Amar Ujala a prestigious newspaper dated 14.05.2020 it is evident that the city of Meerut has thehighest death rate as compared to the other cities which happens to be in theRed Zone so decayed by the Government of U.P.such as Agra, Kanpur Nagar, Lucknow and Gautam Budh Nagar. Moreover, the above report also pointed out that the District Meerut records lowest recovery rate i.e. 27.48 % andhighest mortality rate of 5.34% which is far above the national mortality ratewhich is around 3%.
Another report highlighted in the petition was of State Control Room, Integrated Disease Surveillance Program Vector Borne Disease Division, Director of Health Services, Uttar Pradesh Lucknow which states that on 16.05.2020 itself 27 new patients were found positive, the total number of cases in the city of Meerut are 322 out of which only 95 patients were discharged and 18 died with total number of 209 active cases.
“The data is shocking as the recovery rate of District Meerut is 29.5% whereas the state of U.P. has 57.15% and India has 38.84% also, the mortality rate of District Meerut is 5.59 % whereas the State of U.P. has mortality rate of 2.43 % and India has morality rate of 3.13 %.
The above stats shows that the city of Meerut and its administration has failed in combating and taking appropriate measures to curb the spread of COVID-19, which makes it necessary that a special mechanism has to be formulated under the direct monitoring and supervision of the judiciary so that effective and quick measures and implementation of the guidelines can be made effective and operative in the District- Meerut”, said in the petition.
Thereafter, the petitioner highlighted that according to a report dated 18.04.2020 so formulated by the Additional Chief Secretary, Home, Government of Uttar Pradesh regarding the state of law and order and outbreak of the virus, the position of District- Meerut was found unsatisfactory with maximum number of lockdown violations, when the no. of COVID-19 positive cases were only 54 and even now after lapse of more than a month there is no improvement in the situation and the administration has failed in controlling the situation.
He added that the outbreak in the city is such that the police officials and the people detained in the police or judicial custody are being diagnosed as COVID-19 positive, such incidents were regularly reported in the month of May which clearly shows the magnitude of the outbreak and requires the judicial intervention in the city of Meerut otherwise the city is under an immense threat and if the situation continues like this than the law and order can come to stand still which can cause and may lead to violation of Fundamental Rights of the citizens of Meerut, so given by the Constitution of India, 1950.
It was pointed out that no health care services were being extended to patients due to national lockdown which resulted in deaths of patients from various other factors and curable diseases in order to extend health care services on mass scale some private medical institutions/testing labs in district Meerut should be allowed to operate their applications for operation can be screened and decided online based on their geographical location, availability of infrastructure and reputation in the market.
The petitioner suggested through the petition that the medical facilities and infrastructure available at Subharti Medical College, Mulayam Singh Yadav Medical College and some private laboratories at aptly equipped can be availed to do effective and speedy testing of the samples and establishment of more testing labs are of utmost importance in the city of Meerut to promote mass testing, as per the data available on Arogya Setu App the city of Noida has four ICMR(Indian Council of Medical Research) approved private testing labs and unfortunately the city of Meerut has onlyone testing lab that too in Government Medical College, Meerut and theresults of that lab even are inconclusive.
Also, adequate security measures and surveillance appliances should be installed to provide a secure work environment to Health Care Workers(HCW). Moreover, as per latest guidelines as issued by the government Buddy system as recommended for HCW should be strictly adhered to and effective implementation of the same be done to boost confidence of HCW.
“It has to be understood by everyone in the present times we are living in a War situation and it is the need of the mankind that effective, adequate and quick measures are to be taken by the administration, otherwise the life of the citizens of Meerut will be at the risk of highest level”, said in by the petitioner.
-India Legal Bureau