Probe Exposes Gross Irregularities In Testing At Kumbh, Fake Reports
By A Special Correspondent
First publised on 2021-06-15 12:09:26
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As gross irregularities are exposed in the Kumbh probe, it is now clear that giving permission for such a huge congregation of people in the pandemic was disastrous. Those who were supporting the government must now admit that it was a possible super spreader. The probe, conducted by the Uttarakhand health department, has exposed that more than 1 lakh Covid test reports submitted were fake. Every pilgrim attending the Maha Kumbh Mela at Haridwar was required to submit a current Covid-negative report. Then, the High Court had mandated that 50000 random tests were to be conducted daily in Haridwar.
The probe has found that the entire exercise was a sham. The report took the data of just one agency (a total of nine were appointed by the state government) and found that starting from names and addresses of the people allegedly tested to sample collectors, everything was just on paper. Names and addresses were fictitious, a single phone number was entered for many people and the same phone number was entered for people from different cities. All antigen test kits are for single use and have an exclusive identification number. In Haridwar, the number of a single kit was shown to have been used for 700 tests. It was also found that 200 sample collectors were students based in Rajasthan and one of them said that he had never visited Haridwar. He said that he was given the data to upload as part of his training.
Officials in the Uttarakhand health department said that more such irregularities will surface when the other collection agencies and the labs where the samples were supposed to be taken are probed. This is a major scam that has played with the lives of people all over the country in these troubled times. Since the pilgrims in Kumbh were not actually tested and most of the 'reports' have been found to be fake, it is absolutely certain that a huge percentage of them could have been Covid carriers and spread the virus all over the country when they dispersed after the Kumbh Mela.
It was highly irresponsible of the government to allow the Kumbh to continue after it was clear in February that Covid cases were rising fast and a second wave was possible. Permitting the shahi snans in April was criminal. The Mela should have been terminated and made symbolic after the first snan on March 11. Repeated denials that it was not a super spreader as all precautions were being taken and Covid protocols were being followed (a mela inspector had admitted then that it was impossible to enforce social distancing and pictures from the ground confirmed that) lie exposed now. If people were not even tested properly who knows how many of the lakhs that assembled there carried the virus and infected how many others?
