Over 450 from Tablighi Jamaat meet are in Maharashtra

MUMBAI/THANE/PUNE/NASHIK: The count of people in Maharashtra who attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi in mid-March has gone up to more than 450. While 448 people have been identified in various parts of the state, several in Mumbai have been identified as well though officials did not reveal exact numbers for the city. The numbers include Indians as well as foreign nationals who travelled after the Delhi meet to the state.
In the Konkan region (excluding Mumbai), 200 such people have been found and 50 of them traced and isolated.Konkan divisional commissioner Shivaji Daund said medical exams will be conducted on those isolated. Of the 200, 139 people are in Thane district, 42 in Raigad district, 3 are Ratnagiri and 16 in Palghar. “We have so far traced 50 people. We have some addresses and phone numbers and are trying to trace all 200,” Daund said. He said once these people are located, people whom they have met or have been in touch with too will be traced and isolated.
Within Thane district, 21 foreign nationals, 13 of them from Bangladesh and 8 from Malaysia, and two Indians from Assam who had attended the Tablighi gathering in Delhi, were found staying in two masjids in Mumbra on Tuesday night. On a tip-off, local police along with the Thane Municipal Corporation’s health officials traced the 13 Bangladeshis to Maksood Nagar Masjid in Almas Colony. “They had come to India via Kolkata, gone to Delhi and arrived in Thane on March 10. Their travel history and documents are being examined. They have been quarantined,” said DCP SS Burse. The 2 Indians from Assam were in the same masjid.
Police found there were 8 others, all Malaysian nationals, staying in another masjid in the area. They too were quarantined after it was established they belonged to the Tablighi group that had gone to Delhi. They too had arrived here on March 10, police said.
In Mumbai, the BMC along with police approached several of those across the city who had participated in the Tablighi meet and stamped them for home quarantine. Though no numbers for Mumbai were given, an official said those who showed no symptoms have been home quarantined and those symptomatic have been sent either to Kasturba Hospital near Saat Rasta or to the isolation ward of a hospital for tests.
Officials said some TJ members had come forward and informed BMC’s health officials about their visit to Delhi, and quite a few from Mumbai may still be in Delhi and mong those quarantined there.SP MLA Rais Shaikh said, “We along with community leaders are approaching participants at the TJ meet and suggesting home quarantine or tests. People are also coming forward to get themselves tested.”
In Pune district, 136 attendees of the meet have been identifed and 75 traced and quarantined. In Satara there are 5, in Sangli 3 and 17 each in Solapur and Kolhapur. Ten of the Kolhapur lot have been traced. In Nashik 21 have been identified and 16 traced. And Aurangabad has 4. Pune divisional commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar said 111 out of 182 persons from Pune division including Pune, Satara, Sangli, Solapur and Kolhapur have been traced and an effort is on to track the rest. The 75 traced from Pune district have been taken to facilities where their blood samples and swabs were collected.
Ahmednagar police on Wednesday quarantined 10 people who had come from Karnataka for a Tablighi meet on April 3. The group was residing in a mosque in the city. The administration had denied permission for the meet and the group, which arrived 10 days ago, apparently could not move outdue to the lockdown.