Himachal villagers take up cudgels against virus

With Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur motivating the panchayat heads to play a crucial role to trace and quarantine at the gram panchayat levels all those who returned from other states, locals have also started taking cudgels to protect themselves and community amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Most of the people, even in remote places, are now voluntarily preferring home quarantine for minimum 14 days to contain the spread of COVID-19, a government official, who is daily monitoring the arrival of people from outside the state, told .

The government figures say 1.15 lakh people have arrived in the state from across the country with the easing of lockdown restrictions. About 60,000 more have registered with the state for returning to their native places.

With the arrival of people from other states, the number of virus patients has steeply increased, according to official figures.

The number of active cases in the state reduced to one on May 1. With the arrival from other states, the patients spiked to 34 till May 16.

Chief Minister Thakur, who is daily monitoring the pandemic and regularly interacting with corona warriors at the grassroots, told collective efforts are required to tackle the virus.

The 'pradhans' or village heads must educate people regarding the importance of home quarantine.

"We are aiming that no one would be allowed to jump home quarantine. If a person does not obey the quarantine protocol, he or she could be brought to the notice of the local administration so that they could be sent for institutional quarantine," Thakur said.

He believes the heads of 3,226 panchayats in the state are the frontline warriors and they could play a crucial role in defeating the 'invisible' enemy.

Setting an example in the corona battle, elderly Soma Devi of Ghindi village in Mandi district preferred to isolate her daughter and two others, who have inter-state travel history, for at least 14 days in her vacant house located on the outskirts of the village.

"As a precaution, I preferred to keep my child and two others in my vacant house so that there is no possibility of an outbreak of coronavirus in the village," she said.

Her daughter Himani along with her two friends returned to the village from Chandigarh on May 4.

Leading the way voluntarily, Chaman Thakur of Auhan village in Murahag panchayat of district Mandi informed the local administration about his nephew's arrival from Gurugram in Haryana.

The nephew too volunteered to stay in institutional quarantine.

"My nephew preferred to stay in institutional quarantine so that the whole family and the community is protected from the risk of the virus," Chaman Thakur said.

Likewise, Pawan Shyam of Gharola village in Anni subdivision of Kullu district set an example by deciding to stay 16 km away from his home in quarantine before entering the village.

Shyam works in a company in Rajasthan. Although he visited his village after a long break, after meeting with his family members following social distancing norms he went straight to the quarantine centre.

Deputy Commissioner Rugved Thakur said many families in Mandi District have given good examples of voluntary quarantine.

The district administration has set up 500 institutional quarantine centres with a capacity to accommodate more than 2,200 people.

Added Deputy Commissioner of Kullu, Richa Verma, who said people have understood the importance of isolation.

She said there are about 270 institutional quarantine centres in the district, which have the capacity to accommodate 1,400 people.

Officers told the Chief Minister regularly interacts with panchayat heads and members of the Zila Parishads through Skype and Zoom and describes social distancing in simple words.

Even the villagers have been showcasing their best to fight coronavirus, said an official.

"So far the Chief Minister has addressed panchayat pardhans and others involved in village-level governance in eight districts. The remaining four districts

( With inputs from IANS )