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Hard to shake off stigma, says Jawaharpur panch
First to test positive from the village, which now has 42 cases, was discharged from PGIMER, Chandigarh, on April 28.
Discharged from PGIMER, Chandigarh, on Tuesday after his recovery, Malkit Singh Saini, the 43-year-old panch of Jawaharpur village in Dera Bassi, who was the first Covid-19 patient in the area, says it will be difficult to shake off the stigma for the rest of his life.
After Saini tested positive on April 4, several members of his extended family also contracted the infection over the next few weeks, leading the village count to 43 and making it the biggest Covid-19 cluster in Punjab. This jump in cases, in the village with a population of 3,000, sent the Mohali district count soaring to 73.
Now under quarantine for 14 days at a centre in Sector 70, Mohali, Saini says people had gradually stopped calling him to check on him.
Saini and his cousin, the village sarpanch, who was also found positive, had reportedly defied curfew norms to organise community meals and interact with locals leading to increase in the number of cases. Saini, who owns a tent house and a tile factory, also did not cease the factory operations during the curfew.
Gurpreet Singh, a villager, says once immensely popular in the village due to his sociability, the panch has now lost his ground after getting the “super spreader” tag. “He has brought upon himself infamy for spreading the virus in the village,” he adds.
Even the sarpanch, who recovered a week back, says she could perceive a change in residents’ attitude towards her, but hopefully things will improve with time. “I feel sorry that our village became infamous. But, we have faith in God. The situation is under control and the good old days will return,” she says.
Out of 43 patients from the village, 17 have recovered and been moved to the quarantine centre in Sector 70 Mohali for 14 days.
The village continues to be sealed, having been declared a containment zone, with residents’ movement out of their houses completely restricted.
