'Hello collector... two persons from outside just came to our village...'

Nagpur: Gadchiroli collector Dipak Singla seems accustomed to receiving calls from various unknown numbers from callers in different corners of this Maoist-affected district who share information on strangers spotted in their hamlets.

A high Covid-19 related awareness level among the tribals of Gadchiroli has even left the district administration amazed.

The villagers have adopted different practices, including blocking entrances of villages, making it possible for the administration to keep Gadchiroli in green zone for almost two months before positive cases started emerging with entry of outsiders.

At present, Gadchiroli is having 26 positive cases who are lodged at different quarantine centres after returning from Mumbai, Thane, Pune and even Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Singla said he was surprised by the awareness level of the tribal population and their dedication to follow the norms which might not be the case in many urban centres.

“I had 15 missed calls from an unknown number while busy in a crucial work. It was intriguing to receive so many and hence called the person back. He was from Mulchera and wanted to share that two persons had returned to village from Andhra Pradesh,” Singla said. “I was moved by the dedication of the unknown person. Immediately, I shared his contact and information with my tehsildar and those two men were shifted to institutional quarantine ,” he said.

Singla said that the second surprise had come from some unknown persons who had sent him a video of two pregnant women from Telangana having entered a village in Chamorshi. “After we received the video clip, our team could trace the women and shift them to quarantine centre,” he said.

Singla also received a call from a person in Etapalli on his cellphone regarding some 21 labourers being intercepted by police at Chhattisgarh who were made to shell out Rs 45,000. “I contacted my batchmate at Raipur and ensured entire Rs 45,000 was recovered. Later, the labourers returned to Gadchiroli in a private vehicle paying just Rs 1,000 each,” he said.

Singla attributed the awareness to the medical health survey of 15,000-17,000 people in the district who had returned before the lockdown was announced. “Gadchiroli district had completed the survey of the people by March 20 and they were home quarantined. Even before the lockdown, we were ready with our statistics,” he said.

SP Shailesh Balkawade also appreciated the awareness level of the Gadchiroli residents stating the two surveys of health and then that of migrants had raised the knowledge of the tribals regarding Covid-19 and how to fight it.