Bhopal: As Madhya Pradesh has reported a spurt in Covid-19 cases, 51 districts of the state are gripped by the fatal virus but a tiny district Niwari has managed to keep the virus away.
Carved out of Tikamgarh in 2018, Niwari got the status of a district during the tenure of Shivraj Singh Chouhan as the chief minister.
As the state is grappling with the high number of coronavirus cases, which has been growing steadily since March this year, Niwari is yet to report a single case of infection. According to the health bulletin of Monday, MP had a total of 9,638 cases of infection, spread across 51 districts.
Nestled in parched Bundelkhand, Niwari is the smallest district in MP with an area of just 1,318 square km and a population of around four lakh. As its neighbours in Bundelkhand, the district sees large migration of local labourers who started heading home once the lockdown was announced.
According to district administration, around 19,000 local migrant labourers have returned to Niwari as of now. Besides over 80,000 have passed through the district in the pursuit of their homes.
As locals claim the district administration led by collector Akshay Singh had been extremely pro-active in handling the lockdown situation. Health staffers have been relentlessly surveying and screening locals in town and villages despite the fact no case of infection has been reported till now.
Besides, the District Crisis Management Group — headed by the collector with members including MP, MLA, health officers, district administration officers, volunteers and others — has been leading from the front in tackling the crisis. The group meets every three-four days.
“Initially the group met online but later the collector started holding regular meetings and anyone could raise complaints or suggestions in the meeting without any fear,” Mastram Ghosh, a local volunteer who is the member of the group told News18.
The administration has formed separate WhatsApp groups for different heads, including ration distribution, MGNREGS works, health check-ups and so on which makes easier for administration to monitor activities. “Recently we were added in a group pertaining to MGNREGS works and village sarpanchs and secretaries have no choice but to keep the group updated about the works carried out,” Ghosh added.
The administration has been pro-active in it’s approach. Recently locals were seen roaming around without masks and police was quick to hand them Rs 100 each challan and impact was visible as people started putting on masks, said Ghosh.
The locals also affirm the district collector remain active on the field most of the time taking stock of the Covid-19 arrangements, reviewing prohibitions or encouraging the field staff which has put entire administrative machinery on high alert.
Senior physician Dr RS Malarya affirmed the pro-active attitude of the district collector.
“The collector had formed 16 health teams comprising two physicians each and para-medical staff, and motivated and encouraged us,” said Dr Malarya, adding they never got complacent as there are no cases of infection. He cited his own example as he was busy screening 26 locals in village Kolua while speaking to News18.
The health staff has screened around 20,000 locals till now.
We haven’t left it to the paramedics, when a doctor speaks and makes people aware, they tend to listen, said Dr Malarya, adding they personally spread awareness besides undertaking sampling and surveys.
The district collector Akshay Singh speaking to News18 over phone affirmed that locals have been supportive to administration in the hour of crisis.
Being an urban dominated area, locals tend to listen more to the administration as compared to urban areas, claimed Singh who exhibited modesty in saying that all districts have been putting in best efforts but they are fortunate enough as of now to not report any case of infection.
“We are a small district and sampling started around a month of half ago so this can also be the reason for no infection,” said the collector adding till now the district has only sent 80-90 samples to Sagar for testing and all but three have tested negative.
We can’t celebrate as you have one case and all is destroyed, said the collector on a cautious note. To add, Singh is the first collector to assume office in year 2018 when the district was founded.
The district, still in developing stage, till now has no health set up of its own and is covered under Chief Medical and Health Office Tikamgarh.
The officer affirmed that they home quarantined 90% of the returning migrant labourers and only five per cent were sent to institutional quarantine and remaining five per cent slipped in without being spotted by authorities.
The tiny district had used its fleet of 30 buses to ferry migrants to nearby places and also offered them breakfast, food and other essentials, if any.
Local Angara college has been turned into quarantine centre and top officers, including the collector himself monitors activities there on daily basis. The district till now has offered work to 8,000 labourers in MGNREGS.
As more and more labourers are coming back and including those who stayed back, we need to generate more work quickly, said the collector adding till they have managed to pay wages little over a week. “As the work will grow, payments issues will multiply,” said the officer.
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