DIMAPUR, MAY 8 (MExN): As the Court given deadline for setting up of two Bio Safety Labs in Nagaland expired on May 8, the Nagaland Government today sought a two week extension of the deadline at the Kohima Bench of the Gauhati High Court.
At the hearing today, the Nagaland Government filed an Interlocutory Application and stated that “if everything goes well” the BSL-3 lab in Kohima would be functional within 5 days. However, the unit in Dimapur will require at least 2 weeks to be functional, it said.
Representing the Government, Additional Advocate General, TB Jamir informed that finishing touches for the BSL lab in Kohima were done on May 7. He informed that the delay in making the Dimapur lab functional is due to the fact that there is only one technical team for setting up both the labs.
The court, in its order on May 8, while appreciating the steps taken by all concerned, said: “We are anxious of the way how things have taken so long, especially when all the other States in North East have already established such labs sometime ago.”
“The State of Nagaland next to Assam is the oldest State in North East, therefore one expects that it should also be leading in many ways rather than lagging behind the other States in the North East. The COVID-19 news came to India in January and it became a concern for the whole world and the country in the later part of February. So much precious time has passed,” the order observed.
The people in the State have been alert and worried, the Court stated. It therefore directed the Nagaland Government to make all efforts to make the testing units functional at Kohima within 5 days and the one in Dimapur within two weeks.
It further directed the government to file an affidavit of compliance at the end of the two weeks. However, if the units are not functional by then, the Chief Secretary; Principal Secretary, Health and Welfare Department; and the Principal Director, Directorate of Health and Family Welfare should appear in person and explain, the Court ordered.
