Eden Gardens to be used as quarantine centre for Kolkata Police

With the number of COVID-19 cases rising in Kolkata, the city has decided upon having its iconic cricket stadium, the Eden Gardens as one of the quarantine centres.

Five blocks of the cricket stadium will be converted into a COVID-19 quarantine facility for the Kolkata Police personnel. Earlier, the Kolkata Police had requested the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) to allot a few blocks of the Eden Gardens to quarantine policemen who had been infected by the virus.

According to reports, more than 500 policemen in Kolkata have tested positive so far, of which more than 400 have recovered and two have succumbed to the disease.

The whole of the Eden Gardens will not be used as a quarantine centre though. Only the space under block E, F, G, H & J will be used, as things stand.

When the outbreak of COVID-19 began in March 2020, former CAB president and current BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly had offered the Eden Gardens to the West Bengal government to quarantine people.

“It is our duty to help and support the administration in this hour of crisis. The quarantine facility would be used for police personnel who are Covid-19 warriors. The under galleries which would be used at E, F, G, H and J blocks would be properly segregated and secured from the balance areas. The arrangement agreed between Kolkata Police and CAB would ensure that areas used for cricket and administrative Activities remain unaffected,” CAB President Avishek Dalmiya said in a statement.

Eden Gardens is the largest active stadium in India

Eden Gardens is currently the largest active stadium in India with a seating capacity of 68,000. However, the Motera Stadium will overtake Eden for that accolade once the former is inaugurated.

Kolkata was battered by a severe cyclone Amphan a couple of weeks ago, which made the fight against COVID-19 even tougher. On a daily basis, the city reports the most number of cases from West Bengal.