E-Paper
2K in quarantine, Badholi keeping its fingers crossed
Most Uttar Pradesh villages cannot claim to have a population equal to the number of migrants who have returned to Badholi — a village in Bahriach district — before
Most Uttar Pradesh villages cannot claim to have a population equal to the number of migrants who have returned to Badholi — a village in Bahriach district — before the states sealed their borders after the lockdown was imposed due to coronavirus scare.
“Over 2,000 migrants have returned to their homes in Badholi and all are under home quarantine as advised by government doctors,” said Mohammed Hasib, representative of the village head.
Hasib’s daughter-in-law Salma is the village head.
“With such a large number of migrants under quarantine, our village is likely to remain on tenterhooks till April 15 when the isolation period for the most would end,” said Hasib, himself a migrant with a fruit and vegetable juice shop in New Delhi.
He is not under quarantine as he came back to village two months back.
“We are not taking any chance at all,” said Hasib, who just entered the village on his motorcycle after checking on the health status of migrants in Tipra hamlet of Badhouli village.
The village has four more hamlets--Jahanpurwa, Paranpur, Kaharanpur, and Mandhatapur.
“We, in coordination with the health department of the district, have twice sanitized the village by disinfectant sprays. We do not let villagers sit together in groups,” said Hasib.
Soap cakes are now present at all the village handpumps, taps, and toilets.
“Today, when we opened the ration distribution at this Public Distribution System (PDS) shop, of which we are the contractors, a ration card holder refused to stand in the social distance circle that we have drawn for queues. He refused to stand in the circle and dismissed the idea of washing hands before standing in the queue. He tried to play smart, calling it ‘tamasha’. We refused to give him a ration and asked him to come back on the last day of the distribution. He grumbled and went back,” said Jaseen Ahmed, 30.
“Allah na karey, yeh bimari phailey (We pray to almighty to prevent the spread of the disease). I am adhering to the quarantine. But, most of the home isolation people do sit outside our houses in the sun. We understand that soaking up the sun, eating a healthy diet, and rest is healthy in these times of coronavirus,” said Tauheed Ahmed, 45, a migrant with a juice shop in Delhi.
Under home quarantine, he claimed he had walked the first 250 km from Delhi and was lucky to get a lift on a goods carrier for the rest of the distance. The distance between Delhi and Bahraich is 680 km.
The village is Muslim dominated.
According to 2011 census, it had a total population at 5,500. “But now, we are estimated 7,000 and 5,500 of this are Muslims,” said Hasib.
Because of the high number of migrants in the village, the district administration has set up a quarantine facility at the newly-built Government Girls School in nearby village Bashiya Patey in Jarwal tehsil. “The facility has been set up to lodge anyone who shows coronavirus symptoms. We have ten beds and a kitchen and have a capacity to expand it to 200 beds,” said Om Chand Verma, the Bashiya Patey village head on a visit to inspect the facility.
The facility is unbelievably clean with beds complete with neat new mattresses, pillows, and quilts. The kitchen has a cooking stove, large cauldrons, ration, cooking oil, vegetables, and a lot of ‘Dettol’ soaps.
Dr Nikhil Singh, superintendent doctor for Jarwal, said: “We are closely monitoring village Badholi. We send a doctor every two days, and our village level health volunteers are monitoring the migrants.”
So far, the district has not reported any positive case.
Laman Ahmed, 36, who has a juice shop in Alwar district of Rajasthan, is also under quarantine.
He said: “When we were stranded, on March 24, requested the Alwar district administration to give us a travel permit. They permitted and then we hired a goods carrier vehicle from Alwar to Bahraich for Rs 20,300. As many as 24 people came on it.”
Most of the migrants in this village have fruit-vegetable juice shops in Delhi, Rajasthan, and Mumbai.
