Over 200 Sikhs stranded in Delhi's Majnu Ka Tilla gurudwara evacuated

Over 200 Sikhs stranded at a gurudwara in Delhi’s Majnu ka Tilla area on Wednesday (April 1) were evacuated by the national capital and Punjab authorities and will be quarantined in a school in Nehru Vihar.

Among the 205 people stranded here due to the 21-day nationwide lockdown in view of the coronavirus outbreak, Pakistan nationals are also expected to be present.

With most of the people being evacuated by Wednesday afternoon, all those stranded are being ferried to safe zones in buses.

Related news: One more Delhi doctor tests COVID positive, cases at six

The move comes a day after a cluster of COVID-19 infections linked to a religious gathering at a Nizamuddin markaz took the headlines.

On Tuesday (March 31), the maulana or the markaz’s cleric was booked for violating government orders and holding a mass gathering of more than 1,000 people.

Taking a dig at the inaction of Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, Manjinder  Singh Sirsa, president of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), said he had to take help from the Delhi and central governments.

He said that, all but three families at the gurudwara are Indian and mostly from Punjab, and the rest are from Pakistan, and they were stranded due to the lockdown not because they were attending a religious congregation.

The number of COVID-19 cases in Delhi rose to 120 after 23 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours.