Hyderabad: About 600 people – nearly half the population of a village of 1600 – in a Telangana village is suffering from COVID-19 pandemic. The villagers forsaken their spacious homes and bunglows and living in makeshift tents in open fields.
This situation is prevailing in Vikrabad’s Mandal Aravalli where a surge in COVID-19 cases recently forced the villagers out of their homes. The whole village is deserted and only stray dogs are roaming the streets.
Only elderly are sitting in front of their homes whose faces show their helplessness and sadness. When they are enquired about the whereabouts of people and children they simply point towards the fields.
The villagers deserted their homes after the surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths of people due to breathlessness. They took refuge in open fields.
The villagers said that the District Collector had toured their village. They appealed him to conduct a health camp and carry out their testing. But there was no response.
An ANM simply visits their village everyday and returns. There is no one coming forward to perform the last rites of the dead persons. The co-option member Jaffer cooperting in digging the graves with JCB to perform the last rites of the dead.
The Aravalli Co-option Member Jaffer said, “An appeal was made to the District Collector for conducting a health camp and carrying out testing of the villagers. The MLA Muthuku Anand too was inforfmed. The villagers face a grave danger to their lives.”
“My father breathed his last in front of me,” said Harsh Vardhan, a resident of the village.
“About half of the village is COVID-19 positive and the people are leaving their homes and living in fields. The question who will die next is worrying us,” said Sriselam Mudiraj, another resident of the village.