At camp, officials hope sports, board games help inmates beat boredom, homesickness

Govind Kamat Maad | TNN | Updated: Apr 15, 2020, 08:39 IST

Since the facility was set up, five medical camps have been organised for inmates

MARGAO: At the Manohar Parrikar indoor stadium in Navelim, 450-odd migrant labourers and homeless persons stare at another fortnight of encampment. While they expected to be able to return home on April 14, expecting lockdown to be lifted, officials hope that the facilities the district administration has provided to keep them engaged improves the spirits in the camp.
While there are books for literate persons, the camp also has cricket kits, football sets, and playing rings. Board games like ludo have been given to the children. So, while boredom and homesickness has affected the overall well-being of many and liquor addicts have begun to display withdrawal symptoms, officials hope the sports and games beats the boredom. “Keeping them confined to the shelter home and engaging them in activities to beat the boredom has become a challenging task,” an official familiar with the camp environment told TOI.
Following complaints that some inmates were sneaking out of the shelter home to buy booze from the back doors of liquor shops, IGP Jaspal Singh on Monday visited the camp and reviewed the security apparatus. He has given directions for deployment of Indian Reserve Batallion (IRB) personnel at the site.
On Monday, a medical camp was held for the inmates — the fifth of its kind held since the shelter home was set up — and immunity boosters like Chyawanprash were provided to them.
The incident commander for the Margao municipal area, Ajit Panchwadkar, said that due care was being taken by the district administration to ensure hygiene of the place and the health of the inmates.
Sources said medicines that like cough syrup, antacids, paracetamol, soframycin, oral rehydration solution (ORS), and vitamin capsules were also provided to inmates.
The inmates of the shelter home primarily comprise migrant labourers who are unable to return to their native places, and roadside vendors — many had come to Goa to sell their wares during the recent state-sponsored Shigmo parades, and were marooned in the town owing to the sudden lockdown.