Village committees instruct people not to return home

Kolhapur

: The village level committees have become aggressive in protecting the locals from getting infected as people returning homes from red zones are instructed to reconsider their decision. The move comes after the government started giving travel passes to people from orange and green zone to travel at their respective native places.

Since the lockdown-3 came into effect from May 4, the

Kolhapur district

administration has started ensuring that there will be less inflow of people from other districts to Kolhapur to stop the spread of infection due to migration. District Collector Daulat Desai has already stated that there will not be entry to people from the red zone area (Pune and Mumbai) to Kolhapur district.

The village committee comprises of elected representatives including Sarpanch as the president and government representatives including Police Patil, Talathi, and gramsevak and young volunteers of the village.

Chandrakant Shinde, a villager from Chandgat taluka, said that from March 24 they have ensured that no outsider enters the village except for any essential work. “We are guarding village borders day and night and have told our friends and relatives residing in Pune and Mumbai to stay there only and not to return home. We have warned them that we will send them to institutional quarantine if they come home. This is in the interest of our village,” he said.

Another volunteer from Malkapur in Shahuwadi taluka said they have instructed villagers to inform them if they come across any new person coming to the village. “We cannot guard all the borders of our village but have kept informers in every lane to inform new entrants in the village. We will inform the police and ask them to appropriate action as per rule against the said person,” he said.

There are also people, who have secured travel pass from the district administration, but the village committees have said no for their arrival. “I want to visit my village Parite in Karveer taluka which is hardly 25 km away from Kolhapur but my relatives and friends have advised me not to come till the threat of coronavirus pandemic ends,” said Jeevan Patil, a resident of Kolhapur.

On the other hand, the district guardian minister Satej Patil has said that the village committee has been told to take a decision about the quarantine facility of people entering their villages. “The committee will screen people and will take decisions accordingly. However, they are not authorised to prevent anyone from entering their village.”

District administration has directed each village to set-up a quarantine facility that can accommodate 50 people and make arrangement of their food and sanitation facilities.