This story is from March 31, 2020

Purulia villages block roads to stop entry of outsiders

Purulia villages block roads to stop entry of outsiders
Purulia: The coronavirus pandemic has led several villages in Purulia district to shut the border with Jharkhand. About 250km from Kolkata, Purulia shares a 380km border with the state.
Since lockdown was imposed, over 100 villages near the border — spread over 13 police station jurisdictions — have put up barriers to stop movement of people. “We have no other option to stop the disease.
We are far from the city and its healthcare facilities. Many of us would die even before detection. That’s why we put up barricades,” said Bandwan resident Raj Kumar Mahato.
Some villagers have erected bamboo poles to obstruct movement of vehicles, while others have put up fences with impenetrable thorny creepers, which is no less effective than barbed wire. They have also put up boards to send across the message.
Police have uprooted the barriers at many places. “We are facing great difficulty in moving around. We need to move into villages for maintaining law and order, as well as to ensure lockdown is not violated. The barriers return in no time even after we are remove them,” said a police officer.
Villages like Bhimjhor and Baguri in Bandwan police station area, Kopiara and Chaitandi in Jaipiur police station jurisdiction, Singi and Baghandi in Balarampur, and Tanasi and Lufunda in Jhalda police station area are virtually out of bounds.
“We don’t want our village folk working in other states or cities to come back. We want them to stay where th-ey are. We want them to retu-rn when the crisis ends,” said Jhalda’s Shambhu Singh. “Let cops do their duty. We’ll do ours. They can’t save us from coronavirus, we have to protect ourselves,” said Ayodhya Hills’ Ajit Mura.
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