Samba Cola unit: Govt seals products sent to 15 districts 36 of 401 positive; FIR against management, workers on run

JAMMU: The police have registered a FIR against M/S Jai Beverages for concealing the information about the workers at its soft drink unit contracting Covid-19 in Samba district, while the government sealed its products manufactured over a period of 9 days in 15 districts across Jammu and Kashmir.
As many as 36 of the 401 employees of the unit, located in Bari Brahmana, have so far tested positive for the deadly disease, even as a large number of the workers who are absconding, have also been named in the FIR lodged by the Samba Police.
Police have launched a massive manhunt to locate the workers on the run, even as intense tracing of the contacts of the 36 positive employees is on.
Panic gripped Samba district and later spread to the entire union territory after workers of the popular soft drink company tested positive for Coronavirus last week.
While a week ago, one employee was found infected, the graph started rising with each subsequent day.
“However, astonishingly, the management didn’t bother to inform the authorities even as its employees were testing positive. The police was informed only when 18 employees of the unit tested positive, following the premises were sealed,” official sources informed.
The Bari Brahmana police has now lodged a case against the management of the unit running under the name and style of M/S Jai Beverages for not informing police and administration about the infected employees.
“We have lodged FIR against M/S Jai Beverages vide FIR number 141/2020 under sections 188, 269, 271 and 51 of Disaster Management Act,” SSP Samba Shakti Pathak said.
Out of total 401 employees of the unit, at least thirty-six employees have tested positive for coronavirus as on date, while the test reports of the rest of the employees are awaited.
A significant number of employees have been absconding. They have also been booked, the SSP added.
Meanwhile in the latest development, the government has sealed the beverages produced by the said unit in fifteen districts of Jammu and Kashmir.
“On an average, they produce 150 truckload of carbonated soft drink on a single day. The beverages produced after 20 June, are being sealed for sampling,” officials said.
“If the sample found positive for coronavirus then the consequences would be dangerous as it would be difficult for authorities to count the people who had consumed such beverages”, said a senior officer.