About an hour after sunset a couple of small pickups draw up outside the gates of the Manipur Veterinary & Animal Husbandry Services building. Once cleared, the vehicles enter a shamiana and cooks wearing dhotis begin unloading large vessels of piping-hot food. It’s dinnertime at the Rapid Response Team (RRT) quarantine zone, situated at a five-minute walk from the Chief Minister’s bungalow. Nearly 300 RRT workers have been lodged here since July 26 at the Government’s expenditure, trading home comforts for makeshift dormitories, HBO, mineral water and daily doses of Tamiflu plus medical checkups, after spending the better part of the day culling farm birds as part of the drive to control the spread of bird flu. This is life under quarantine, during which period these workers will not be allowed to meet their families or leave the premises for purposes other than culling, and that too as a team, covered head to toe in Personnel Protection Equipment (PPE) kits. But most workers aren’t complaining. “The food is good, stuff we get on occasions like weddings,” grins an RRT member as he pours himself water in a plastic disposable. Senior officers in-charge of RRT teams say many workers were penniless when they were asked not to leave the quarantine zone. “They had no idea they wouldn’t be able to go home. This is a first-of-its-kind experience for the state, and we are meeting all needs through our Director’s sanction—from paan and cigarettes to cold drinks and cable TV.” As some sit watching an action movie, others line up along the long tables set up in an enclosed area that has sleeping arrangements as well. For caterer G Krishnakanta Sharma and head cook G Basanta Sharma, this is a new experience. “We have catered for weddings and funerals, Government functions and medical camps as well. But for the first time, we are taking medication (Tamiflu) before entering the premises. We prepare the food at our kitchen, and wash used utensils in hot water as an added precaution. We’re cooking around 600 meals per day and it costs us Rs 25,000 on average, after subsidising our services keeping the situation in mind,” says Krishnakanta. An added advantage is that, being Brahmin cooks, they don’t prepare chicken and eggs anyway. Talking amidst the groups of RRT members relaxing after a long day is V&AH Director Th Dorendra Singh. “It can never be that I’m taking my meals in my office while my sepoys are down here. I’ll eat what everyone is having. We have to keep the morale up for these people who are doing the hard work of fighting the avian flu,” adds Dorendra as he walks over for his dinner. In a couple of hours, it’ll be time for the announcement of each of the 34 teams’ area of operation for the next day, and then a chance to catch up on sleep. “Even though culling operations are drawing to a close, sanitisation remains. This means at least another week under quarantine,” they smile.
