E-Paper
Rajasthan villagers cut off dirt roads to block from people from UP
Villages in Rajasthan bordering Agra and Mathura in UP have dug up roads to prevent people from crossing over on the instructions of minister of state for medical and health.
Villagers in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur district are cutting off all the rural dirt roads linking Agra and Mathura in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh following a call by the state’s junior health minister to prevent unauthorised inter-state movement of people which could result in a possible spike in coronavirus cases in the state.
Subhash Garg, RLD MLA from Bharatpur City and the minister of state for medical and health, asked villagers to dig trenches to dissuade people from UP from crossing over.
On Tuesday, all dust roads in villages bordering Agra and Mathura were blocked with boulders, trees and trenches dug by earthmover machines. HT visited Nurpur, Karot, Daulatpur and Bagai villages on the border with Uttar Pradesh.
“We have broken all links with Agra and Mathura. We have also decided to patrol the areas at night to prevent any movement from UP,” said Sukhveer Singh of Nurpur village.
Vijay Singh of Karot village said the dirt tracks have been in use even during the lockdown. “Even during the movement of migrant labourers, when police stopped them on highways, they took the village roads to cross over,” he said.
Police have set up barricades on the Agra-Jaipur national highway No. 21 at Uncha Nagla but many people took the village roads to cross over.
“I visited the village link roads touching UP border on Monday and told the villagers to block them. Most of the links have been blocked,” said Garg.
“I have directed the police to completely block the movement of people between two states to prevent the spread of Covid-19,” the minister said.
This week, three women, who slipped into Bharatpur from Agra, have tested positive. Additional district magistrate (City) Rajesh Goyal said Sapna Devi came from Agra in an ambulance to Bada Mohalla in Bharatpur City to visit her mother, and was quarantined with his son, Krishna, on April 29. Both tested positive for the virus on May 3.
“We have put 10 of her contacts also in quarantine,” he said. The district administration is looking for the ambulance.
Bobby Devi came to her sister’s house in Bilang village of Kaman on April 28. She tested positive on May 1. Twenty-five men have been identified as her contacts and put in government-run quarantine facility, the ADM said.
Chhoti Devi also came to Bharatpur to see her mother in Sewar town on April 30. She was put in quarantine centre the next day after neighbours informed the administration. She tested positive on Tuesday.
Bharatpur has reported 115 Covid-19 cases till the afternoon of May 5. Two of them have died.
