Lack of awareness adds to troubles of Palwal district

Bijendra Ahlawat

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Tribune News Service

Palwal, April 11

Palwal is “under-developed” and less populated in comparison to its neighbouring Faridabad, but the nature of the problem is the same.

Here also the majority of the positive cases (29 so far) are of the persons who attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation or those who came into their contact, leading to the district emerging as a hotspot.

Sensing it as a serious threat, the district took a lead by announcing containment zone to screen the suspects on an urgent basis.

As the majority of the cases have been of the Jamaatis, the authorities took a little time to understand the epicentre of the problem — the Hathin subdivision. It is primarily a rural hub with the majority of the villages being part of the Mewat region which is poorly educated.

At least 15 villages including Chhainsa, Durenchi, Mathepur, Mahlooka, Hunchpuri, Kot, Utawar, Lakhnaka, Rupraka, Gurawali, Babupur Hathin, Jalalpur, Guraksar, Alimew and Paharpur were placed in containment zones.

These were to be covered by 45 teams consisting of doctors, nurses and health workers to carry out an intensive house-to-house search of the cases.

Only one case was from the urban pocket of Palwal where a 68-year-old businessman was found positive. He was the first case to have been found positive on March 23 after he returned from Dubai on March 12.

Revealing that a record 59,000 persons in the area have already been scanned, Dr Brahmdeep Singh, Civil Surgeon, said the exercise could be extended easily to every person in the district.

“The issue took a serious turn when it was found that a large number of persons of whom the majority were residents of other states or countries had visited villages of Hathin in connection with religious work. This made us to carve out a strategy to hit at the root of the problem,” said the Civil Surgeon.

As the large number of persons, who came in contact with the suspects, had been illiterate or unaware of the problem, handling it lightly could have taken a heavy toll, he said. He added that the result has been satisfactory as the identification of suspects has become easy.

“We will ensure that no one is left as suspected case in the minimum time. For this, we are ready to go an extra mile to make this issue a thing of the past,” says DC Naresh Narwal.

Claiming that Palwal became the first district to go for containment plan, he said the strategy was now to clean up the mess through hyperactive involvement of all concerned.

The main challenge, he claimed, has been the lack of education in a large part of the district having a rural background.

Admitting that though the recovery rate has been a bit slow so far, a district official said that all the positive cases are stable and are on the path to recovery. Six of them are expected to be discharged in the next four to five days.

The first case was discharged within a week of his treatment. The majority of those still getting treatment are lodged in the Government Medical College at Nalhar (Nuh) where ventilators are available.

The main cause of worry is that the issue needs continuous attention for the next couple of months as lack of awareness has been the major hurdle. The Police Department is playing a key role in making social distancing a success.

As many as 1,600 vehicles have been impounded or challaned so far in the lockdown period. While a fine of Rs 11 lakh has imposed, 119 persons have been arrested till date.