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With colleges closed, students protect their villages from coronavirus
A group of college students, who returned home after the closure of Lucknow University (LU), have volunteered to protect the residents of their native Nawapar village in eastern Uttar Pradesh’s (UP) Gorakhpur district from the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
A group of college students, who returned home after the closure of Lucknow University (LU), have volunteered to protect the residents of their native Nawapar village in eastern Uttar Pradesh’s (UP) Gorakhpur district from the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
The village has a population of around 2,700 people and falls under Campierganj block in Gorakhpur district.
The students are ensuring the villagers’ daily needs such as delivering vegetables on a door-to-door basis are taken care of. They also made sure that 28 people, who returned home from various parts of the country before the ongoing 21-day nationwide lockdown was enforced on March 25 to contain the spread of Covid-19 outbreak, are under quarantine at a primary school on the outskirts of the village. No one from the village has tested Covid-19 positive so far, and the quarantine period of most of them is about to get over.
The volunteers are also giving tips to the villagers about how to wash their hands in 20 seconds.
“The Covid-19 spreads largely because of ignorance, which can be attributed to a lack of information. We formed a group to help our villagers in a bid to ensure that they don’t suffer from lack of awareness,” said Vikas Chaudhary, a law student of LU, who returned to his native village on March 23 to attend a family function.
Chaudhary came up with the idea of forming a group, which was supported by the village chief, Ram Raksha Paswan. The team was formed after other youngsters from the village joined it. Soon, they started visiting each and every household and advised the villagers to stay indoors and maintain social distancing, a concept many were unfamiliar with.
Initially, the team was formed with only four members but has since swelled to 14 and all of them belong to 19-25 years age bracket. The members keep in touch with each other through their mobile phones and WhatsApp.
Paswan has barred the entry of outsiders to the villagers as four roads leading to Nawapar village have been sealed.
“Four of us are keeping a strict vigil and preventing outsiders from visiting our village unless it is an emergency,” said Deepak Kumar, who holds a graduate degree and a member of the group. The volunteers are also distributing food and other essential items to the needy villagers amid the ongoing lockdown.
“We wear masks or cover our faces with our handkerchiefs. We maintain distance from one another and even from our family members when we return home,” said Suresh Yadav, a first-year undergraduate student.
The volunteers have also motivated the youth from adjoining villages to emulate them. “Other villages in our gram sabha have taken a leaf of these volunteers’ book. Our youngsters are also helping us,” said Sanjeev Yadav, a member of the gram sabha.
People from other parts of the state are also making similar efforts.
For instance, Rajiv Mishra (42), a research scholar of Prayagraj’s Nehru Gram Bharti University, is busy spreading awareness on how to protect from SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19, in villages located in remote areas of Shankargarh block.
The arid and rocky Shankargarh block is located about 50 kilometres south of Prayagraj and is known for its low literacy rate among women and widespread malnutrition among poor children, making them more susceptible to Covid-19 because of their low immunity. The poor in the block also suffer from respiratory disorders because of prevalent quarrying activities.
“I am concentrating on Kapari and Khan Samera villages that are home to tribal people. They’ve poor literacy and personal hygiene is almost non-existent. I’ve been visiting their homes and making them aware of Covid-19. The villagers are being taught the importance of washing hands with soap,” said Mishra.
He is also distributing personal protective equipment (PPE) such as masks, soaps and awareness pamphlets among the tribals. A group of students and youngers are helping Mishra to reach out to the vulnerable local population.
“Every morning, we leave for the villages and return home in the evening,” he added.
Shashank, a post-graduate student of sociology at Banaras Hindu University (BHU), is busy helping students in the remote areas of Mirzapur district.
Shashak, a native of Gorakhpur, lives in a rented accommodation in Varanasi. He chose not to go home when the nationwide lockdown was announced and decided to help the poor in Mirzapur district. He, along with two friends Harish Chandra Bind and Shashikant, organised 20 packets of relief materials, including five kilograms each of flour and rice, from charitable organisations and distributed among the Mahadalit Musahar community in Baraini gram panchayat area of the district.
“It’s a grim situation. I decided to distribute relief material in remote areas of Mirzapur district in a bid to ensure that the needy people get some relief. They’re happy to be looked after under these trying circumstances,” Shashank said. Shashank and his team members have also launched an awareness drive among the locals about Covid-19 and are giving them basic personal hygiene tips. They have also urged the locals to contact doctors at government hospitals in case they catch a cold and show other symptoms such as cough and fever. Also, they appealed to the people to maintain cleanliness in their neighbourhoods.
(With inputs from K Sandeep Kumar in Prayagraj and Sudhir Kumar in Varanasi)
