Gadchiroli doc helped Italian couple get out of Maoist-affected area

Nagpur: ‘Thank you, Bhayya!’ These words of 33-year old Roberto Bellezza’s over the phone after landing in Italy to Dr Charanjit Singh Saluja at Allapalli in Gadchiroli brought tears to latter’s eyes. All that the doctor could say to his new Italian friend and his wife Deidda Gloria (24) with a choked voice was to stay safe at a time when the European nation was caught amid Covid-19 outbreak.

Saluja, recipient of the prestigious Uttam Jeevan Raksha Padak in 2018 for saving the lives of one officer and 21 jawans after a Maoist blast, was instrumental in ensuring safe passage of the Italian couple who were stuck at Allapalli. The couple, on a bike tour in India, had come to south Gadchiroli from Bijapur on way to north India. They entered the district through Sironcha and had checked into a hotel at Allapalli on March 19 just as the pandemic panic had begun to strike India.

Saluja said there was panic among people in Allapalli on seeing the couple from Italy. “I was the first to receive the intimation and immediately alerted the tehsildar. It was already late evening. The government doctor and his team were informed but still I rushed to the hotel where the couple had checked in,” he said. “In Maoist-affected regions, the movements of the government officials are restricted,” he said.

Saluja said he screened the couple thoroughly and tried to explain to local people there was no cause for worry as Bellezza and Gloria were in India for quite some time and may have arrived in India before their country was devastated by Covid. “In the night, the couple was allowed to stay at the hotel. They too were panicked and irritated at officials probing into their antecedents. I had to calm them too,” said Saluja who has also distributed homeopathic medicines to more than 1,000 cops along with his team, distributed masks and sanitizers and also helped organize a marriage with social distancing.

Saluja said the couple was convinced to leave for Nagpur the following day. “I helped them get accommodated in Nagpur, get tested at GMCH and also sell off their bike. On the March 21, they flew to Delhi and on the same day left for Italy with the help of their embassy,” he said. Saluja said he is still in touch with the couple and occasionally exchanges mails with them.