Adding tasteless spice and colour : Ugly display of VIPsm
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: June 06 2020 -
Making things a little spicier and adding colour to the days of anxiety triggered by the Nationwide lockdown, except that this is not the festival of colour and certainly the spice here can give one a stomach upset.
So even as the State Government has put its best foot forward to throw open the doors of Manipur to the many who have been stranded in different parts of the country, some smart Alecs, obviously backed by their influential elders and family members have gone out of their way to reduce the whole exercise to something of a farce.
The SoP is clear to all.
All returnees have to first proceed to the many quarantine centres set up all over the State for a stipulated period of time before they can go back home.
However trust some of the well heeled, smart Alecs with their gelled hair and fancy smart phones to beat the system and make a mockery of all the arrangements prepared by the State Government to ensure that the spread of COVID-19 is kept under check.
Ironic it is but it is not the set of people who returned by train, bearing the harsh summer heat in trains, the hunger, thirst and- then take a long bus journey to their home districts who have added to the spice here but the well heeled class of people just referred to above.
Manipur did not have this problem before the sky opened but ironic it is that strong doubts have been raised that many of these well heeled, supposedly 'educated' persons coming from 'good' family background have beaten the system, bucked the mandatory stay at quarantine centres and then headed straight home.
It is not without reason why the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme has started studying the 'footprints' of those who sneaked past the mandatory quarantine centres.
The date here refers to May 25, the first day that domestic flight resumed after March 25 and it should be obvious to all that no one could have sneaked past the buses waiting to take them to the quarantine centres if they had not flashed the status.
It could have also been planned well ahead of their landing at BT Airport here.
What makes this brazen demonstration of 'connection' and VIPsm all that more unacceptable is the fact that in by passing the mandatory period of quarantine at a designated place, these 'well heeled' supposedly 'educated' beings could have exposed so many others to the virus.
At the moment, one can only hope and pray that none of them carry the virus else community transmission in Manipur would have become a big possibility.
How can some of these 'privileged' section of society be so uncaring about the place and the people?
It is this mindset that is disturbing.
Have connection, brow beat others into quiet submission and presto here is the perfect formula to throw around one's weight and dodge the SoP laid down by the Government.
The State Government too has made it clear that anyone violating quarantine period and violating the laid down SoP would be penalised.
The interesting question is, if the status of these well heeled beings will save them from the stand of the Government.
In line with what happened on May 25, another respected personality, an elected member of the Assembly also headed straight home without checking in at a quarantine centre.
It is this attitude that the Government would do well to check and pack such people off for a few days to a secluded cell, if needed.
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