As many as 18 Indian labourers working at a plywood industry in Birtamod ran away from the quarantine facility at Kichakbadh in Jhapa yesterday.

A month ago, the workers from West Bengal were caught by local residents while heading towards India through Prithivinagar. They had been kept in quarantine ever since.

According to the local residents, the quarantine facility was ill-managed and the Indians were facing a hard time to live there.

Their whereabouts is unknown for the time being.

Meanwhile, in a bid to ‘strictly implement the national lockdown’, Minister of Home Affairs Ram Bahadur Thapa has asked Nepal Police to deploy more personnel along the Nepal-India borders.

Issuing a press release, the Home Ministry stated that many people were still crossing despite heavy patrolling by Nepal’s security personnel along the southern borders.

Security personnel have also been asked to increase patrolling during night time.

As many as 22,646 Armed Police Force personnel have been deployed along the borders.