Pune: Family forced to stay inside tempo for 14 days quarantine period

Mehab Qureshi

Pune, May 21, 2020: The fear of highly contagious Coronavirus has spread more than the COVID 19 itself. Not only this virus has bought a health calamity but also a social dilemma amongst the people across the country and state.

Migrant labourers are still stranded over different parts of the country. Datta Raut is a migrant labourer who was working at Byculla and Vashi market. He hails from Bhor in Pune district. He along with his family had moved to Mumbai, in search of employment.

Raut was working as a Mathadi (head-loader) labourer in the markets of Mumbai. After the emergence of the COVID -19, Raut decided to head back to his village in Bhor taluka. He scrambled all his savings and hired a tempo from a neighbour and started his journey back home last week.

After reaching his village, the villagers obstructed him and criticized him of travelling and spreading infection. As soon as he heard this, he showed them the medical certificate and several documents. The actions of villagers shunned him; they told him to quarantine himself for 14 days before he enters the locality. To which, some villagers told him to stay inside their tempo. Raut also tried accomodating at a local Zila Parishad school, but he was denied the access to it as well.

Finally, forced to live inside a tempo, Raut somehow manages to cook with his wife and his son. They live in fear every day; also, they are forced to bathe outside as well, as they are denied access to their ancestral home.

Bhor Tehsildar Ajit Patil expressed his grief and said that it was unfortunate that this happened and this behaviour of villagers will not be tolerated. He also summed that he will ensure arrangements for the family at a local quarantine centre.