Over 200 stranded at Delhi's Majnu ka Tila gurudwara, evacuation underway

Authorities have begun the evacuation of around 205 people who are stranded at the gurudwara in the Majnu ka Tila area of Delhi. All of them will be quarantined in a school in Nehru Vihar.

According to reports, some of the stranded people have developed symptoms of coronavirus. However, no official information is available on it so far. Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee chief Manjinder Singh Sirsa has also suspected that some of them may have the COVID-19 infection.

The evacuees are being transported in buses and also include some Pakistani nationals, who were stuck due to the lockdown that was imposed to contain the spread of coronavirus. 

It is being said that some people gathered here for eating during the lockdown as they had nowhere else to go to. Some of them left their houses in Delhi-NCR to travel to Punjab but could not travel following the announcement of the nationwide lockdown by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The gurudwara provided them food and they were regularly tested by doctors. The gurudwara administration has informed the Delhi and Punjab government about the development and also made it clear that these people were not a part of any congregation but they were just passersby who were given shelter at the gurudwara.

On Wednesday morning, the administration took the responsibility to relocate them and made arrangements at a school in the Nehru Vihar area while asking the gurudwara to provide them food. The religious body accepted it. 

The evacuation is being conducted close on the heels following the discovery of several coronavirus cases linked to a religious congregation called Tablighi Jamaat at the Nizamuddin Markaz.

The Markaz's preacher has been booked for violating government orders.