Nizamuddin: Delhi Police Completes Markaz Evacuation At 4 AM; 2,100 Tablighi Jamaat Members Shifted

The Delhi Police completed the evacuation of the Tablighi Jamaat headquarters situated in the Nizamuddin area on Wednesday. The clearing operations were concluded at 4 am on Wednesday. According to the latest reports, 2,100 Tablighi Jamaat members were evacuated from the six-storey building. All of the Jamaat members have been shifted to hospitals and isolation centres, the police officials said. The officials across India are tracing, contacting and isolating those Jamaat members who had attended the Markaz and returned to their native places. On Tuesday, Delhi's Nizamuddin was declared as a coronavirus hotspot by the Centre. An FIR was also lodged against the cleric of Tablighi Jamaat's Markaz for violating government orders on the management of the Markaz in relation to social, political or religious gathering. Apart from the 2,100 members who were evacuated on Wednesday, more than 2,000 other Tabligh members have been identified across India. (Coronavirus Outbreak LIVE)

Meanwhile, the Jaunpur administration in Uttar Pradesh has quarantined about 50 people who attended a Tabligh-e-Jamaat congregation in Delhi's Nizamuddin area and returned to the district recently. "People who returned two days ago from Delhi and Noida on buses were scanned. Of this, there were around 50 persons who returned after attending the Tabligh-e-Jamaat. These people have been quarantined at Shia College, and their health check-up is being done," District Magistrate Dinesh Kumar Singh said. He said their addresses and the places they visited after attending the religious congregation are being ascertained. Similarly, in Tamil Nadu's Erode, district administration has asked Muslims who participated in Tablighi Jamaat to come forward and undergo COVID-19 test. Sulthanpet, Manickam Palayam and BP Agraharam, where Muslim population density is high,have been cordoned off.

The Delhi Markaz of Tablighi Jamaat came under the spotlight after seven deaths were reported from Telangana. The travel history revealed that all of them had attended the religious congregation in Nizamuddin. On Monday evening, the health officials reached the Tablighi Jamaat headquarters and told the people living in the building about the viral infection. Tablighi Jamaat is an Islamic Movement that originated in India. Apart from India, the other biggest congregation of the sect took place in Pakistan, where similar cases of COVID-19 infections were reported. The web of close contact can become the biggest worry of the health officials. Before Nizamuddin, other hotspots in India include Bhilwara in Rajasthan and Sangli in Maharashtra. A more serious spread from a sect’s gathering was reported from Malaysia, where at least 500 from the nearly 16,000 who gathered for the four-day event starting on Feb 27 at the Sri Petaling Mosque compound, according to a New York Times report.

(With agency inputs)