Maharashtra: Not a single Covid case in 138 villages of badly hit Buldhana

NAGPUR: Buldhana district in west Vidarbha’s Amravati division is one of the top three worst-hit districts in the region due to Covid-19. But, there is a silver lining.
Total 138 small villages in the remote parts of the district have not reported even a single case of Covid-19 right since the onset of the pandemic.

After almost 15 months and two waves, not a single native of about 1.5 lakh cumulative population of these villages got infected. Authorities in the district said the credit goes to the villagers only as they followed Covid-appropriate behaviour and also made ‘farm quarantine’ mandatory for any guests and visitors.
“We have report cards of all 1,420 villages in Buldhana district. Many of them have less than 10 cases or up to 5 cases. But, these 138 villages have not reported even a single case to date. The average population of each village is around 1,000. These villages are mainly from remote parts of the district,” said Rajesh Lokhande, deputy CEO of Buldhana’s zilla parishad.
Even if being small in terms of population, Buldhana district has 83,241 to date, which is highest in Vidarbha after Nagpur (4.72 lakh) and Amravati (89,547). Case positivity in the district is still over 15%. Adjacent Akola and Washim districts also have a high positivity rate. In the second wave, cases are mainly coming from the rural parts of Buldhana.
Buldhana district has 12 tehsils. Almost every tehsil has a few number of villages with no cases. Sagrampur, dominated by tribal and remote villages, has highest 29 of them while adjacent Jalgaon Jamod has 25 such villages. Khamgaon (16), Mehkar (12), Chikhli, Lonar and Buldhana (9 each), Malkapur (8), Nandura and Motala (6 each), Sindkhed Raja, Deulgaon Raja and Shegaon (3 each) have zero Covid-hit villages.
ZP CEO Bhagyashree Vispute termed this is success story of these villages and said, “Villagers kept vigil, followed Covid-appropriate behaviour and kept the virus out till now in such challenging situation. It’s a big achievement.”
Amol Bhivgade, a resident of Paturda village in Sangrampur, who was selected by his village to travel to city or towns for essential works, said this pattern can be followed by small villages.
“I used to travel to Sangrampur, sometimes Buldhana for villagers’ works. We hardly allowed any senior citizen to travel outside,” he said.
The district administration has already started vaccination in these villages and most of them will be covered by the end of May.
Secret of these villages
No entry | Entry to outsiders was strictly prohibited during both waves
Sanitization | Govt staffers, drivers of essential supply vehicles etc had to undergo sanitization before entering village
Masks | Must for outsiders visiting villages full-time during their stay
Farm quarantine | If guests, visitors arrive with intention of longer stay, it was made compulsory for them to stay in farms outside village for 7 days
Travel ban | Villagers hardly travelled to other towns; selected youths travelled only for important reasons