“The novel coronavirus has denied our livelihood in the form of daily wage work or cultivating our small land holdings. We are offering prayers to our village deities regularly to save us from the virus which has originated from China,” says Madala Butiki, former sarpanch of Iragai gram panchayat in Araku Valley mandal.
She is not the lone opinion leader living under the grip of COVID-19 scare. Fear stalks every panchayat in Visakhapatnam Agency, which has the largest tribal population in the State. The district has 11 mandals with 244 gram panchayats with a total tribal population of six lakh. Paderu is the headquarters of the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA).
Tribal people living in the Eastern Ghats are fearing the COVID-19 even as the official machinery has stepped up its efforts to educate them on the steps to be taken to prevent the spread of what they call “China virus”. “We hope that the virus will die soon with the blessings our village deities,” Ms. Butiki told The Hindu.
Lockdown
As the message on lockdown could not reach all the habitations, ITDA announced the decision on public address systems and by tom-tom on Monday evening. Three check-posts were set up at Chilakalagedda in Anantagiri, Garikibanda in Paderu and Downuru in Koyyuru mandal, considered gateways to the Agency.
ITDA Project Officer D.K. Balaji said the situation was under control and the check-posts were manned by the employees of Revenue, Panchayat and Police departments.
Admitting that the awareness level in the interior areas was very low, he said that owing to access to television and government machinery, residents in road-point hamlets were aware of steps to take care of personal hygiene. He said tourists and outsiders were not being allowed at the check-points and the villagers were also being advised not to shelter outsiders.
Only vehicles carrying essential commodities and provisions are being permitted to enter the Agency areas. The Agency has been totally closed to tourists, both domestic and foreigners. Police patrol parties are keeping a tab 24x7 on movement of vehicles and people.
Posters
Mr. Balaji said they had put up posters in every panchayat on measures required prevent the spread of COVID-19 and alert the officials if any outsiders visited their area.
Exclusive teams were being deputed to all panchayats to continue awareness programme. Suspected cases are being referred to Paderu and Araku area hospitals.
The official said as per the government direction, quarantine homes have been provided in each panchayat as part of a contingency plan. Buildings, including schools and Youth Training Kendras, have been taken over at Paderu and Araku to provide quarantine facility for 150 to 200 people at a time.
