A day after the administration has ordered mandatory COVID testing for the passengers arriving in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir through Lakhanpur, a group of people ransacked virus testing counters and allegedly manhandled the staff.
The mob smashed windowpanes of the counters and damaged furniture and testing kits against "inordinate" delay in giving test reports.
Reports said that a large number of residents of Jammu and Kashmir were stopped at Lakhanpur for mandatory RT-PCR testing. Long queues of people were witnessed at Lakhanpur-the gateway of Jammu and Kashmir.
While many tourists and pilgrims of Mata Vaishno Devi were returned from Lakhanpur, residents of Jammu and Kashmir asked the authorities to expedite the process of testing and give them reports within half an hour.
As people had to wait for hours together for getting testing reports, a mob got infuriated and resorted to shouting slogans against the authorities for these restrictions. Some enraged youth vandalized testing counters and entered into a verbal duel with the staff engaged in testing.
Reports said that some passengers who have been administered the double dose of the Corona vaccine demanded that they should be exempted from mandatory testing.
Shortage of manpower was the main cause of delay in test
Employees of the Health Department engaged at testing counters stopped working after they were allegedly manhandled and testing counters were ransacked by the enraged mob.
Employees said that due to a shortage of manpower they couldn't handle thousands of people including pilgrims, traders, and locals who were gathered at Lakhanpur to enter J&K.
They alleged that the enraged mob vandalized counters and damaged furniture and testing equipment. They demanded the deployment of adequate staff to handle such a huge number of people.
RT-PCR testing also mandatory for people with a double vaccine
District administration of Kathua has ordered mandatory testing of passengers arriving through commercial vehicles for COVID at Lakhanpur, the gateway to Jammu and Kashmir.
In view of an upsurge in COVID-19 cases and detection of the first three Omicron cases in Jammu and Kashmir, District Magistrate Kathua Rahul Yadav has ordered that all passengers travelling through buses, cabs, taxis, and tempo travelers shall have to undergo Rapid Antigen Test for COVID-19 compulsorily at Lakhanpur irrespective of their vaccination status.
"The Nodal Officer Lakhanpur will ensure at least 30 percent RT-PCR sampling of incoming passengers," Yadav said.
