Volunteers enforce lockdown in Jammu villages

BQ— “We are guarding our villages round the clock with the help of a team of 21 volunteers who have been performing their duties as per a roaster prepared by the Panchayat. Even villagers are not allowed to come out of their homes,” — Mohammad Amin, Naib-Sarpanch of Khanpur Panchayat in Nagrota

Dinesh Manhotra

Tribune News Service

Jammu, April 1

Mohammad Amin, Naib-Sarpanch of Khanpur Panchayat in Nagrota, is leading a group of 21 volunteers guarding the whole area to ensure that no one enters or comes out of the Panchayat during the 21-day lockdown, so as to save villagers from coronavirus.

Situated on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway, on the outskirts of Jammu city, Nagrota belt is considered ‘vulnerable’, so the local Panchayats have taken the initiative to debar entry of outsiders.

“We are guarding our villages round the clock with the help of a team of 21 volunteers who have been performing their duties as per a roaster prepared by the Panchayat,” Amin told The Tribune. “Even villagers are not allowed to come out of their homes,” he added.

Although this belt is dominated by poor people, who earn their livelihood by working as labourers, Panchayats have made arrangements to ensure that every family gets meal thrice a day.

Nagrota SDPO Mohan Lal Sharma, who has roped in Panchayats to ensure success of lockdown in vulnerable areas, said barbed wires were provided to villagers to seal their respective areas. “This belt is very vulnerable so we have decided to take help of Panchayats in this task”, he said and added that earlier, villagers were involved to trace those who had hidden their travel history. This experiment to involve locals would be extended to other areas also.

“If anybody requires any goods, like grocery, fruits/vegetables, medicines within the belt, we are providing them at their doorstep so that they do not need to move out,” Sharma said.

Nagrota sub-division in not an isolated case. Residents of Chatha Farm village on the city outskirts are also keeping outsiders from entering the village by raising barricades and keeping vigil at all entry points.

Residents of Chatha Farm are following social distancing and lockdown stringently and have banned the entry of outsiders in the village to prevent people from catching infection. The decision of banning entry was taken under the supervision of Sarpanch Avtar Singh.

“The governments are playing their role in controlling the spread of infection and lockdown is part of that but as civil society members, we should also play our roles,” Avtar said.