The Nadia district administration has begun putting up posters outside the houses of people under home quarantine, advising people to avoid visits to such residences.

The notices also mention the period of the home quarantine and the number of persons who have been advised not to step out of their houses.

Senior officials in the district administration said the initiative had been taken under its “community surveillance” endeavour to avert a community outbreak of Covid-19.

Asked about the posters, Nadia district magistrate Vibhu Goel told The Telegraph: “We don’t have any better option. We learned that many district authorities in the country had been compelled to take such a step. Our objective is not to ostracise anybody, rather to make the community aware of the deadly outcome.”

Similar posters have been pasted at the houses of persons under home quarantine at several places across the country, including Delhi and Chandigarh.

When such posters had raised eyebrows, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had tweeted: “Delhi govt is marking all homes with persons advised to home quarantine. I appeal to all not to stigmatize such families. Please be empathetic and supportive towards them. The marking is aimed only at cautioning others for their own safety. #DelhiFightsCorona”

The posters pasted on the homes of quarantined people by the Nadia district administration read: “Daya korey ei griha eriya cholun, ei griho quarantine e achey (This house is under quarantine, kindly avoid it)”. The posters go on to mention the name and address of the person along with the duration of quarantine.

A section of social workers said such posters could stigmatise the families concerned and lead to their ostracism.

However, Goel said: “If anybody feels such a notice is embarrassing or ostracising him, he can remove it.”

The format of the poster. Picture by Subhasish Chaudhuri

He added that despite the best efforts, people were yet to realise the magnitude of the threat posed by the deadly disease.

Sources in the district administration said the initiative was taken only after a large number of persons, who had been advised home quarantine, were seen freely roaming around and creating a risk of community outbreak.

An officer of the Covid-19 management cell in Nadia said: “The quarantine period has been mentioned so that people can understand that after the isolation, people were not required to stay in if symptoms of the disease did not surface.”

“As of now the country has been fighting. We are trying best to keep people who came from outside at their homes. But we cannot monitor the activities of thousands of such people. So, this is an option for community involvement,” Goel said.

“For the last three days, we have been discussing the problem. The proposal of the poster was also debated and eventually, we decided to implement it in a persuasive manner. However, if any family needs any support to maintain prescribed distance ensuring that they are not ostracised. We have sensitised all officials concerned at panchayat and municipality levels and advised them to ensure the balance,” he added.

Several districts such as East Burdwan, Malda, Murshidabad and North Dinajpur have adopted the policy of pasting posters on the walls of quarantined people’s homes.

However, a section of senior officials said the policy could create a law and order problem given the panic among the people.

Already there are instances of villagers asking people from outside to stay out till they got fitness certificates.

“Anyone can follow this policy but keeping a vigil on the people by deploying civic volunteers or medical staff would be a better idea,” said a senior government official.

Additional reporting by Snehamoy Chakraborty