india

Updated: Apr 24, 2020 20:21 IST

Last month when north Kerala district Kasaragod turned into a coronavirus hotspot, Karnataka had closed all its border points with Kerala and the latter took the inter-state issue to the Supreme Court, however, now Kerala has closed its borders with Tamil Nadu after Covid-19 cases shot up in the neighbouring state.

Many human rights activists and others have criticised what they called Kerala’s “double standards” in trying times. The issue took a serious turn last week when a patient from Tamil Nadu died after the Kerala police turned away the ambulance carrying him. The ambulance driver, later said, he literally begged the officials at the check post to save the life of the patient but he was threatened and forcibly sent back.

When asked about this Thiruvananthapuram district collector K Gopalakrishnan said he was not aware of the case and usually ambulances and trucks carrying essential supplies do not pose any problems at the borders. A senior police officer said many ambulances were discreetly taking stranded people to the state and this might have forced officials to deny permission to the vehicle carrying the patient.

However, a government spokesperson said the state was forced to take strict action after some people came from the neighbouring state through forest routes turned Covid-19 positive and transmitted the virus to many others.

He cited the case of a Kulathupuzha resident (Kollam) who tested Covid-19 positive after his trip to Tamil Nadu to attend a function. At least 15 of his primary contacts have been quarantined and a complete lockdown was imposed on three neighbouring villages Thenmala, Aryankavu and Kulathupuzha.

“Some of the southern districts of Tamil Nadu heavily depend on Kerala for medical needs. There are many instances where serious patients were turned away at the borders. When Karnataka closed its border, Kerala made it a big national issue. Sad, now Kerala is resorting to the same tactic. If the situation continues like this we will move the court,” a rights activist in Marthandam P Selvaraj said protesting against Kerala’s attitude.