Venchapalli village stands as model in Covid fight

Mancherial/ Hyderabad: Amidst gloomy reports of Covid-19 rising its ugly head during the second wave leading to the problems like non-availability of hospital beds, shortage of oxygen and black marketing of Remdesivir, here comes a pleasant news that there is a village in the state which is corona-free.

Venchapalli village in Mancherial district with a population of about 800 has now become a role model for the State. How did this happen? Though the people in the village are not highly educated, they seem to understand the gravity of the situation better than those in towns and cities and are strictly following corona-safety norms. The villagers too go out on work and most of them are farmers.

The village has become corona-free because of the initiatives of the woman Sarpanch - P Rajubai, who introduced localised Standard Operating Protocol (SOP) for the safety of all. The first initiative taken by the village head was to ban the entry of people from Maharashtra, which has been reporting the highest number positive cases in the country during the second wave of corona. The village Panchayat in Kotapalli mandal has adopted a unanimous resolution restricting the movement of outsiders into the village surrounded by hills and lush green jungle.

Rajubai told The Hans India that it is mandatory that every individual should wear face mask and maintain social distance when they go out of their homes. All functions and family gatherings have been postponed till the situation across the state improves. Though the people in the village are not highly educated, she said they understand the gravity of the situation and are following all norms voluntarily. Since March last year to date, not a single case of corona positive was reported from the village.

The local medical authorities visit the village every week and conduct medical tests on the suspected persons suffering from cold, cough and other Covid-related symptoms.

To address the needs of the local people like groceries and other essential commodities, the village Panchayat had bought a four-wheeler and hired a local driver for the transportation from outside. A two-member volunteer team was entrusted with the responsibility of door delivery of goods at all 250 homes in the village.

Another major task was to sanitise the houses and disinfecting the streets periodically. The Sarpanch said that the local youth have formed into teams and monitor the movement of the people on rotation basis particularly at the border of the village. If anyone is found violating the safety rules, they are fined by the Panchayat. As most of them are farmers, they have to go to fields but even while in farm activities they maintain social distancing, take bath soon after returning and in case anyone has to go out of village, they take bath with water mixed with turmeric and they drink ambali which is great immunity booster.

On coming to know about the achievement of corona-free village status, the Panchayat Raj department released additional funds for the development of the village in the last and current financial year.