Virus cases, non-Covid-19 deaths shut up Kolkata's Jorabagan

Rohit Khanna | TNN | Updated: Apr 28, 2020, 06:25 IST

Fear has driven residents to install barricades with bamboo poles and block a section of the neighbourhood

KOLKATA: A dozen people testing positive to Covid-19 and five other non-Covid deaths have spooked the residents in one of Kolkata’s oldest neighbourhoods where the affluent lived a century ago in palatial homes that are now in disrepair and hemmed in by overcrowded coolie quarters.
Fear has gripped locals in Tagore Castle Street, Pathuriaghata Street and PK Tagore Street following the spate of Covid cases and rumours that the virus had claimed lives in the neighbourhoods. What appears to have caused widespread alarm is that three of the five deaths occured in one family.
Though two of them weren't Covid positive and the report of the third person is yet to arrive, locals are convinced there is a co-relation with the virus. “Reports of the first two deceased said that they were not Covid-19 positive. But there is something mysterious about consecutive deaths in the same family and we are very afraid,” said local resident Laltu Palit.
Congested localities like Joragaban, where these thickly populated neighbourhoods with over 9,000 migrant labourers are situated, pose a challenge to both civic authorities and police to monitor and enforce lockdown. But in the past few days, people have disappeared from the streets, an indication of how afraid everyone is. “The family had 14 members. While those who have died did not test positive, we are making arrangements to get the others tested,” said Ward 24 councillor Elora Saha.
Apprehending trouble, municipal authorities have begun regular sanitization of roads and pavements in these localities.