Guwahati Central Jail prisoners undergoing COVID-19 treatment threaten to break out of hospital

Guwahati: Simmering rage and discontent of the Guwahati Central Jail prisoners came to the fore on Friday (July 17) when 175 inmates undergoing treatment in a COVID-19 hospital at Sonapur threatened to breakout. Although things appeared to be going south really quickly, the local police stepped in at the nick of time to avert a certain disaster.

"Late at night yesterday, some of the prisoners of the Guwahati Central Jail who are undergoing treatment for the COVID-19 virus in the Sonapur Hospital started raising a din. There were threatening to break out of the hospital that has been earmarked especially for the treatment of convicts. It was a sensitive situation as the security in the hospital is not as tight as that in the prison", Pankaj Kumar Ray, the in-charge of the Sonapur Police Station, told The Sentinel Digital.

However, Ray reveals that a potential disaster was averted through dialogue. "Some of the officials had a dialogue with some of the mutinous leaders and held discussions with them at the end of which they decided to cooperate with us once again. Some threats also had to be used as is the need while dealing with criminals.

This follows after around a hundred patients broke out of a COVID-19 care center in Assam's Kamrup district and blocked the National Highway 31, citing that they were not being provided with adequate food and water as their reason for doing do.

The Kamrup Deputy Commissioner Kailash Kartik along with a column of police personnel rushed to the facility in Changsary to defuse the tensions. The officials appealed to the patients to clear the highway and return to the medical facility. After a series of discussions and deliberations, the patients finally returned to the hospital.

The COVID-19 patients alleged that they were not being provided with food and water and the condition of the beds was not up to the mark as 10-12 of them were being kept in a single room.

These two incidents show that despite the Government's best efforts to control the pandemic, there is still much resentment among a section of the public, who allege mismanagement of the crisis by those in power. According to reports in some sections of the media, prisoners of the Guwahati Central Jail allege that around 95% of the inmates are COVID-19 positive but are not receiving the appropriate care.

Hundreds of COVID-19 cases have been detected at the Central Jail, including some prominent figures like peasant leader Akhil Gogoi and National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFV) head Ranjan Daimary.

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