PESHAWAR: A single-member Peshawar High Court bench has directed Peshawar’s divisional commissioner to produce a report on a petition seeking orders for the relocation of a quarantine centre set up in Duranpur area here for suspected Covid-19 patients.

Justice Qaiser Rasheed Khan also directed the administration to adopt all precautionary measures against coronavirus, including the spraying of disinfectant in the area thrice a day.

The bench was hearing a petition filed by several residents, including Malik Amirzaib and several others, who said currently, over 140 pilgrims, who recently returned from Iran, were in a quarantine centre set up at the Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical Institute, Duranpur.

President of the Peshawar District Bar Association Taimoor Shah appeared for the petitioners and said the establishment of the quarantine centre at the ZA Bhutto Institute at Duranpur had put thousands of inhabitants of the area at risk of getting infected with the COVID-19.

He said Duranpur was a congested area of the provincial capital, where thousands of people lived in close vicinity to the medical institute.

Mr Shah said the provincial government had not taken the residents in confidence before around 140 pilgrims, who returned from Iran via Taftan border, were quarantined at the ZAB Medical Institute.

He said the law-enforcement agencies had cordoned off the routes leading to the institute creating problems for the local population. The lawyer said Covid-19 was a deadly virus, so the establishment of a quarantine centre in the area had scared the residents.

Provincial advocate general Shumail Ahmad Butt appeared along with other relevant officials, including Peshawar’s divisional commissioner, who said all necessary preventive measures had been taken by the district administration and the health department in that respect to ensure the safety of the people living in surrounding areas.

Published in Dawn, April 2nd, 2020