Getting Binagunda vaccinated was adventurous & challenging as well

Maruthi, the young son of Binagunda’s patil (village head) has been working as kotwal with Bhamragad administration for the past few years.
A few days back he trekked over 20 kilometers to inform Bhamragad Tehsildar that the health team couldn’t find any success in vaccinating Madia tribals of Binagunda and other nearby villages.
All the villagers had refused to get vaccinated from a health team that travelled to these areas recently. The fear of Covid rampaging his village in the next wave was clear in his hushed but concerned tone. The monsoon would also play spoilsport as these villages would be cut off from the rest of the civilization for four months or so. The administration would lose any opportunity to vaccinate them at that time. The kotwal himself had been vaccinated, but he had not been able to convince many of his village folks. “Sir, please visit the villages, we need to convince our people to take the vaccination…”
On the evening of Buddhapurnima, May 26, the tehsildar called me about the problem at hand. We decided to chart a plan to vaccinate every eligible person of Binagunda and other villages nearby. After much deliberation, we decided to organize four vaccination camps: one in Kuwakodi (the eastern most Gram Panchayat of Maharashtra), Permilbhatti, Fodewada and Binagunda each. All located in the infamous Abhujmarh, often referred to as the ‘liberated-zone’ by Naxalites, these villages are home to the Madia tribe, a vulnerable group. These tribes continue to live in seclusion from the rest of the world. Our fear lay in the cold hard fact that if the recent strains of Covid-19 make its way to these villages, lack of health facilities and immediate care could potentially lead to much misery and loss of human life.
Vaccination camps were held on the lines of election exercise. It would have three components. First, an intense awareness campaign would take place in each village on Friday, May 28. The administration team along with all the Patwari, Kotwals and persons with influence in the area would travel to each village and organize meetings in the Ghotuls, the traditional meeting halls of the Madias. The traveling itself was dicey as our vehicle crossed at least five flowing rivulets, removed heavy stones along the forest trail and was stuck multiple times on a hilly and inaccessible terrain. All the villagers were informed in advance about the meeting. The first meeting was held at Fodewada, a hamlet of around 30 houses. The ‘ice-breaking’ session, as Tehsildar Anmol Kamble liked to refer it to, was done by talking about general issues faced by the villagers. This was followed by transitioning to the topic of health and Covid. A video of local leaders and influencers like Prakash Amte ji, was shown to all. It instantly struck a chord with many of them. Afterwards, we took the questions of each villager with much patience. In the classic dialectic method, both sides presented arguments. One of the village seniors wanted us to visit the nearby water source first and address the water problem as well. She led the way as we trekked almost a kilometre in the deep jungle to learn that she had been ferrying water on foot for all her life. It was her chance to have us feel the problems she lived everyday. The meetings went much beyond Covid as they enabled us to note many problems faced by these inaccessible areas. By the end of the day, the team noticed that it had taveresed over 10 kilometres on foot while walking through these villages. Eventually, home visits and Ghotul meetings ensured that all the villages were convinced to get vaccinated.
The next morning, ‘vaccination booths’ were set up in each village. Two teams traveled with vaccine in the pulse polio cold boxes, now used for storing and transporting Covid vaccine in the nearby areas. The vaccination booth agent was armed with the list of all villagers above 45 years of age. The first to get vaccinated was the local Patil, Maruthi’s father. He led by setting an example for all to follow. One by one, as the villagers trickled in the booth, their Aadhar card numbers were noted and vaccine shots were administered after testing their blood sugar levels, blood pressure and other vitals. Many were encouraged to get vaccinated. A little hesitation and concern was still visible. 59 out of 68 persons, almost 87% of the entire eligible population were vaccinated. Almost everyone beyond 18 years of age is eagerly awaiting for their chance as well. As the day ended, we knew that with the right awareness campaign, some personal touch from vaccination warriors, and a clear system and process of vaccination, we could defeat vaccine hesitancy and vaccinate one village at a time in the entire area.
I would like to give all the credit of this ‘Operation Vaccinate Binagunda’ to Tehsildar Anmol Kambde and the team, Sattu, Kotwal-Phodewada, Dinkar Kotwal-Turremarka, Chukku Kotwal-Kuvakodi, Maruti Kotwal-Binagunda, Shankar Kotwal-Laheri, and Akash Kotwal-Malampodur.
(Manuj Jindal, IAS, is currently PO Bhamragad and SDM Etapalli in Gadchiroli)