In Uttar Pradesh, 25 people escaped from a quarantine centre that was set up in Sultanpur. To escape, these people rolled bedsheets into rope and climbed down from the second floor of the quarantine center. After the incident, the police came into action and the absconders were caught and brought back to the quarantine center. The administration has filed FIRs (first information reports) against them.

This is not the only incident where the people placed in the quarantine centres have tried to escape. Such reports are coming from across various districts of Uttar Pradesh. Following the lockdown, a provision was made to keep the migrant labour force returning from cities in quarantine before it entered the village. The arrangement was made in the village schools, but the incidents of people fleeing from these quarantine centres have raised doubts on the soundness of the system.

One such quarantine centre was set up in Pipri Shadipur village of Sitapur district in Uttar Pradesh. Twelve people who returned to cities have been kept in this centre built in the local government school. When Gaon Connection team reached this quarantine centre, some of the inmates had gone home to eat as the centre doesn’t provide any food facility.

Omprakash Maurya, an inmate at the centre, said: “I worked for a factory in Noida. When the work was stopped in the factory, I had to return to my village. We all are kept here like animals. There is no facility, no food arrangement. One must also suffer mosquitoes menace at night. Somehow, I am managing to drag myself through days.”

Next to Om Prakash was the bed of Mohammad Taiban. He had just returned from home. He said: “If you go home, you don’t feel like coming back here, but then my folks console me that it is a matter of a few days more. I don’t like to live here at all. So close to my home I am living in such a bad state.”

It is evident by Omprakash Maurya and Taiban’s experience that it is the poor state of the quarantine centre built in the village which, in fact, is forcing people to flee. This was the reason why nine people fled from the quarantine centre at Kubana village in Maharajganj Tehsil, Rae Bareli district. An FIR was lodged against them following their escape.

Similarly, 36 people fled from the quarantine centre in Kanwar village of Kaushambi in Uttar Pradesh. Later, 22 of these people were apprehended and taken back to the quarantine centre, while the rest of the people are still absconding.

Not only that, one of the persons who was placed in the quarantine centre went out and hanged himself to death. Roshanalal, a resident of Faria Piparya village in Lakhimpur, Uttar Pradesh, was a daily wager in Haryana. After the lockdown, when he returned to the village on March 28, he was placed in a quarantine centre outside the village. After two days of living here, he fled. When he found out that the police were looking for him, he hanged himself. The boy’s family has alleged the police to have previously beaten Roshan Lal who was upset with all this and had later on committed suicide. The matter is presently under investigation.

From all these cases, one thing is clear that the quarantine centres are not appealing to the people. This is because of their poor arrangements and the inability to meet family despite being so close to one.