गौरव नौड़ियाल ने लंबे समय तक कई नामी मीडिया हाउसेज के लिए काम किया है। खबरों की दुनिया में गोते लगाने के बाद फिलहाल गौरव फिल्में लिख रहे हैं। गौरव अखबार, रेडियो, टीवी और न्यूज वेबसाइट्स में काम करने का लंबा अनुभव रखते हैं।
If you go through the newspapers in Uttarakhand you will find that everything is fine. In these local editions you will find the chief minister of the state inaugurating the Corona hospital boasting about the solid preparations of the state for the so called third wave or CM growling at his ministers for the irregularities in the state but the ground realities are opposite to the claims. It seems that the villagers are abandoned to die in this small hilly state. The condition of the hospitals is critical and the positive patients are forced to live in the villages. Many villages in the state have been reported infected and the battle against the pandemic is going on in papers only.
We reached village Paidul in Kot block , Uttarakhand and found that everything was as usual. Boys were playing cricket in the field despite several positive cases in the village. The shocking part was that a Corona positive boy was playing with them that too without mask.
When I conveyed this to pradhan ( husband of pradhan, to be more precise ), his reply was simple , " How can I force anybody ? We have to live together in the village. If I ask them to isolate themselves at home they argue that they do not have cough or cold. Why should they stay indoors?"
We entered the village. I asked them why they were not following the protocols. They argued that if they sit at home who will look after the fields and arrange fodder for the cattle. The location and the dwellings in the villages is such that the word containment seems meaningless there. This is the story of almost every village in the hills.
There are 14 positive cases in the village but there is not even a single doctor available in the nearest health center to look after. The local administration seems to be struggling to chalk out a solid plan to restrict the pandemic. On contrary you will find everything fit and fine in papers. There are 40 positive cases in the surrounding villages and they have not received any medical kit , yet. It is like a well of death into which you have been pushed - you should know how to survive.
उत्तराखंड से छपने वाले अखबारों पर आप नजर मारेंगे तो आपको मीडिया में सारी व्यवस्थाएं चाक चौबंद नजर आएंगी। बड़े पैमाने पर गांव के गांव संक्रमित हो रहे हैं, लेकिन महामरी के खिलाफ लड़ाई कागजों में जारी है।
— Hilansh (@Hilansh1) May 27, 2021
Read this : https://t.co/qGJA23IFnF@TIRATHSRAWAT @INCUttarakhand pic.twitter.com/qmXpRcEYUy
On 27th April several villagers reported to have fever. The tests were conducted on 13th May. Shailendra Singh Negi , a resident of Paidul told that many people from different states attended a marriage ceremony in the village on April 24. After that the condition deteriorated. On 27-28 April villagers complained to have fever . The local health department was informed and was asked to conduct tests but with no response. With the local social activist the local journalists at Pauri were informed. The medical team reached the village on May 13 to conduct the RTPCR tests. On May 19th the tests reports showed that there were 14 positive cases in the village.
The population of Paidul is around 250. Shailendra believes that if the tests were conducted at the proper time many more cases would have been reported. Only 51 people in the village were tested . The majority of the villagers denied to give the samples. The primary health center at Basantpur provided them the strips of paracetamol. Nobody from the health department visited the village thereafter. Most of the villagers are farmers and labourers . If someone in the village falls critically ill, he has to travel 42 kilometers to district hospital, Pauri.
Ajay Prakash , pharmacist at the primary health center Basantpur told us that there are 14 positive cases at Paidul, 20 at Chaitpur and 5 at Beeding. He has only 9 medical kids. He said "I went to Paidul but did not distribute the medical kits as there are 14 positive cases " He told us that he had asked his senior officials to send 100 medical kits , oxygen cylinders, masks , and sanitizers but had not received them (until May 27).
It is shocking that at the midst of pandemic neither the health department nor the pharmacist plan to increase the tests in the surrounding areas. According to the villagers the primary health center is being operated by the pharmacist since 2003. One can imagine that even the infected persons are not treated as per the protocol. This is the case of sheer negligence. According to revenue administration the village is a containment zone but the people infected are free and negligent.
The lack of awareness in the villages is a cause of concern. The marriage ceremonies are being blamed for the spread of the disease . No solid steps were taken by the state government to prevent the spread despite limited resources in the hills. The state government was busy in the game of changing the head of the state . The newly appointed CM , Tirath Singh Rawat spread the red carpet for the devotees visiting the Kumbh . The marriage ceremonies , not restricted initially, resulted in spread of the disease to the remotest areas.
Dadogi village in the Kot block is also a micro containment zone. Out of 170 residents, 25 opted to give the samples for the tests. 21 people were found infected. They are all fine now. Naveen Bisht , gram pradhan of Dadogi told us that the lack of awareness among the villagers is the main problem. He argues that government should have preferred institutional quarantine to the home quarantine. He recalls, " Last year we felt the heat from the villagers . But the conditions were under control. The conditions are different now. The infected persons are roaming freely without masks in the villages."
Meanwhile , the government is claiming that they are ready for the third wave but in the villages people are ignorant. Neither the health department nor the state government, which is hundreds of miles from the hills are ready to accept the ground realities. It is interesting to note that both the present and previous chief ministers belong to the same district , Pauri Garhwal.
(Translated by: Manoj Durbi)
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