Chandigarh: Lost lakhs, Jawaharpur survived on one meal a day

MOHALI: Single meals to ration kitchen savings helped Jawaharpur in Derabassi survive the 51-day sealing following the spurt in novel coronavirus cases that turned the village of 2,500 people into a villain overnight.

Covid-19 had robbed the good fortune of the village, said women, recalling how they were ostracised and called names for becoming a hotspot of the illness — Jawaharpur had reported 46 cases.
“Once during the lockdown we did not even have slippers on our feet. Neighbouring villagers held us responsible for spreading the virus,” said Rajinder Kaur,
57. “We lived on single meals per day to save groceries,” she said.
It was on April 4 that Jawaharpur reported its first case — the village panch who earned the tag of a super spreader as most of the patients were his extended family members.
“We are thankful to the almighty that our village has finally got rid of coronavirus and the lockdown has been lifted. We have gone through tough times. People have suffered both physically and mentally as well as monetarily. Each house has rendered losses of Rs 1 lakh in the past two months. We hope that such a situation does not arrive again,” the 42-year-old panch said.
The primary source of income for the villagers is a combination of farming and private jobs. They said they were unable to plough their fields. As the industry was closed, they were not paid salaries. The panch said, “We are primarily farmers and depend upon the yield we get from farming. All residents were not allowed to go out of their homes because of which they were unable to plough their fields.” Sandeep Singh, a resident, said, “Many also work in factories situated in the periphery of the village. The industry was closed due to the lockdown. Some of them lost their jobs, while others were not paid salaries for the lockdown period.”