A group of migrant workers who had been walking to Assam from Siliguri was provided with ambulances to reach the border by medical officials of Alipurduar 1 block on Monday night.

Bhaskar Sen, the block medical officer of health, came to know that nine people, including four young girls and a minor boy, had been spotted on NH31C at Palashbari en route to Assam. They had walked over 150km from Siliguri.

“They all were hungry and tired. In fact, the girls and the minor boy could not walk. We provided them with food and then arranged for two ambulances for them,” said Sen.

Both the ambulances dropped off the nine persons at Pakriguri on the Assam border. “They have been asked to contact the local police in Assam so that they can reach their homes,” said a police source.

Alipurduar chief medical officer of health Puran Sharma said what the BMOH had done for the migrants deserved appreciation.

He said the district health department had installed a TrueNAT machine at the super-specialty hospital in Falakata for testing swab samples for Covid-19. “We hope to expedite the testing process,” said the CMOH.

So far, swab samples from Alipurduar district had been sent to the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital in Siliguri — located around 180km away — for tests.

Samples from neighbouring Cooch Behar district can also be sent to Falakata for early test results, sources said.