Haryana: Coronavirus caught up with Mewat, lockdown didn’t

Shubhra Pant | TNN | Updated: Apr 4, 2020, 16:12 IST

GURUGRAM: The lockdown peters out as one moves away from Nuh, the one big town in Mewat. The district reported three Covid-19 cases, saw 600 people go into isolation but the seriousness of the pandemic is yet to catch up with its villages.
At Ghasera, about 13 km from Nuh, a group of men had gathered at the village centre, some smoking hookahs. Why weren’t they inside their houses? “Home is right here,” one of them said.
Another 15 km from Ghasera, people were lining up outside the bank at Malab. Did they know about government orders about social distancing? “But I had to come get some money for my blind daughter,” said Zakila. And why did no one have a mask on? At Akera, about 32 km from Malab, people said they didn’t know where they could get one. “They are not available here,” said Rashid Hussain, a landlord at the village.
Barring a few major intersections, there were few cops out on the roads. “When police come, people rush inside their homes and wait. The moment the cops leave, it’s back to business as usual,” a local said. Deputy commissioner Pankaj could not be reached for comment.