129
20 to 25 minutes ; a Eurasian nurse is in charge of the female passengers and their
sheds are erected on the other side of the steaming apparatus. A similar arrangement
exists at Shikárpur and also at Khánápur, while at Rohri the ordinary boiling process
takes place. By these arrangements the risks of railway passengers conveying
infection by means of their clothes are reduced to a minimum and the Punjab and
Baluchistan are both practically protected.'
From 1st July the disinfection of persons departing by trains and also of persons
arriving except passengers from Rohri and by the Kotri-Rohri trains was dispensed with.
From 5th May Surgeon-Lieutenant Gwyther exercised general supervision over the steam
disinfecting. Liberal exceptions were of course made to the general rule that all arrivals
and departures should be subjected to disinfection. Government servants on duty, parties to
suits, well-known traders and native gentlemen and others were not detained, and it was
left to the discretion of the Commissioned Medical Officer who examined the trains to make
such other exceptions as he thought proper,
(c) Medical Inspections of trains and restrictions of booking.—This is a subject which
affects not only Sukkur. but other parts of Sind, the Punjab and Baluchistan, and it will
therefore be dealt with in Chapter III.
Arrangement made after the •abatement of the plague for the
return of the fugitives and the re-
occupation of the town.
13. At the beginning of May, not counting the Gharibabad and Limji Charhi people
who had been moved ont into camp, there were hardly 100 people
left in Gharibabad and New Sukkur. The plague had by this
time much abated and many of the fugitives were anxious to be
allowed to return so that they might open their premises and
take stock of their property. But the cleaning and disinfection
of the town was not yet completed and most quarters were considered to be still unsafe for
re-occupation.
The permanent re-occupation of houses was therefore forbidden by an order dated 7th
May issued under the authority of Hule 7 of Government Resolution No 1750 A. dated 30th
March 1897, but at the same time it was notified and made known throughout the district that
temporary re-occupation of premises during the day time would be permitted to heads of firms and
families, provided the premises had been cleaned and disinfected and that the night was spent
at the camps or on the Bandar. Plague Superintendents were authorized to issue yellow printed
passes for re-occupation on these terms ; and the persons in whose favour such passes were issued
were required to paste them on their door posts, otherwise they would be liable to immediate
expulsion from the town.
The system of granting passes for temporary occupation came into force from 10th May
and worked most satisfactorily. At first only men of business came in to look after their pro-
perty. Next these who could not earn their living in the villages re-opened their shops in th
As people complained of not being able to guard their premises at night, the conditions of
the pass were on 20th May so far relaxed as to permit every householder either himself to
remain at night in the street in front of his premises or to appoint a watchman for the purpose.
Red passes were granted in favour of one man only for each house. These passes were to be
produced for inspection of the police patrols at night.
By 17th May the whole of Gharibabad had been cleaned and disinfected and the people
had been allowed to return from the health camp to their houses, under printed passes which
they were required to paste on their doors. As the whole quarter was clean the other residents
of the Gharibabad who had fled from Sukkur were allowed to come back to their houses on con-
dition that they stayed 5 days in the Gharibabad Health Camp and were, together with their
clothes, bedding and property, thoroughly disinfected. The period of detention was afterwards
reduced to 2 days.
On 29th May, as Gharibabad was fast filling and no fresh cases of plague had occurred
either there or in New Sukkur among the people who had been granted permission for temporary
re-occupation, the Plague Committee consented to permit permanent re-occupation of all parts of
New Sukkur except Frere Street, Babarki Bazar, Gunga Lane and Pound Street, where the plague
had raged most fiercely and most corpses and rats had been found. The conditions under which
re-occupation was allowed were as follows :
Persons from Shikárpur, Lárkhána, and Jacobabad might return to their houses with-
,out being detained or disinfected, provided they brought certificates of one month's con-
tinuous residence from the Chief Plague Authorities of these towns. Persons returning
from beyond the Shikárpur District were also allowed to re-occupy on production of
similar certificates from the Collector, Deputy Commissioner, or Assistant Collector of
State were required to reman under observation at the Gharibabad Health Camp for 3
days and be disinfected together with their clothes and baggage. The period of detention
was afterwards reduced to 2 days. On 7th June as no case of plague was discovered
among the new arrivals in the town by the daily house-to-house visitation parties of Hos-
pital Assistants and soldiers, the period of detention at the camp was reduced to ' such
period not exceeding 48 hours as will enable the person's clothes and belongings to be dis-
infected.'
B 1135-33