ITANAGAR, Jul 18: The Covid-19 Mission team of the All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) on Friday visited the catering facility of the State Quarantine Facility-cum-Covid Care Centre at Lekhi to verify the complaints it had received which highlighted the poor quality of meals and meagre quantities of drinking water provided to the inmates and frontline workers by the Capital District Administration.
After making a thorough inspection and interacting with the kitchen staff, manager and the caterer, the team found that cooks were without proper hand gloves, face masks, hair caps etc. and learnt there are no proper diet plans for the inmates besides the absence of a dietician to monitor the nutrition intake of the food provided. It was also revealed that no formal agreement has been made by the DA with the caterer which has been engaged since May 15 only on the basis of a verbal agreement and an understanding with the LO of the Capital DC office.
Taking strong exception to the lack of availability of bare essentials at the Quarantine Facility, AAPSU, through its press release has highlighted the importance of balanced diets for boosting the immune system of inmates. The release added that from the reports of its affiliated District Students’ Unions and other members, the overall picture in this regard across the state appears to be the same or even worse. The union while questioning the rationale behind providing the same menu to the frontline workers, medical team, asymptomatic and co-morbid patients, has demanded an immediate restructuring of the catering-cum-food management system at all the Quarantine and Covid Care Centres in the state. It has also drawn attention of the state government regarding the grossly inadequate quota of drinking water supplied to the inmates. 
According to the release, in many of the quarantine facilities, inmates are provided with only 1.5 litre of water per day which is far from adequate for a sick person requiring to remain properly hydrated throughout the day.
In addition to the above, AAPSU has stressed that Rapid Tests should be done across the state along with early installation and operationalization of TrueNat testing machines in all districts. The union stated that the recent order for initiating Antigen Test for truck drivers carrying essential commodities should not remain restricted to the Capital Complex Region alone and must be carried out compulsorily in all entry points across the state. The state government through the respective DCs & DMOs should ensure appropriate fooding & lodging facilities at the Quarantine Facilities/CCCs, availability of ICMR-approved medicines for serious Covid-19 patients and adequate PPE kits for frontline workers and medical teams, the release mentioned. The union has further reiterated its demand for ordering an immediate closure of all religious institutions & places of worship in the state.
Reiterating its demand for a white paper on Covid-19 fund utilisation, AAPSU said that the total amount received from Central government, expenses incurred on procurement of medicines/PPE kits/equipment, district-wise allocation of funds, amounts diverted from NEC & NESIDS to fight Covid-19 etc. should be made public. “The Covid-19 hospital at Midpu which was supposed to come up by now is still to be completed. We will chart our own course of action in case the state government fails to come up with the white paper,” the release read.
The apex union of the state has further demanded that the state government should honour the frontline workers who die while on duty as ‘martyrs’ and adequately compensate their family members. AAPSU PR 

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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