Translators help bridge gaps insocial distancing in Gadchiroli

Nagpur: Leaving no stone unturned in Gadchiroli, which has reported no coronavirus patient till date, the district administration has decided to overcome language barriers by roping in translators at some places to create awareness regarding social distancing among the tribals.
The officials have been taking help of translators to educate the masses about the importance of social distancing, personal hygiene etc in local Gondi, Madia and Telugu languages.The tribals are also being taught to prepare homemade masks and its proper use.
The Maoist-infested Gadchiroli, sharing borders with Chhattisgarh and Telangana, could prove a tricky challenge for the administration to contain the disease here with its forested terrains having no robust health care infrastructure for the tribal population plagued by unawareness.
Collector Dipak Singla has issued order to keep essential and emergency services open only between 7am and 1pm. “Petrol pumps have been told to cater to the needs of only government officials on duty apart from the ones related to essential and emergency services,” he said.
Singla, stressing on social distancing, has already shifted markets to Gadchiroli stadium and asked vendors selling vegetables on handcarts to park themselves in different wards. “We have also distributed around 10,000 pamphlets in local languages about the coronavirus, how to keep it at bay and precautions,” he said.
Rahul Gupta, sub-divisional magistrate and project officer for Gadchiroli and Aheri, said, “Following the guidelines of the central government, a ‘handbook’ was published in local languages on how to prepare masks at home. Revenue and tribal departments have jointly published it. These can be used as a training module for members of the self-help groups to prepare and distribute them free of cost among the masses,” he said.
Gupta further said women are being engaged in large numbers by the self-help groups in Kurkheda block in North Gadchiroli.
Aheri tehsildar Omkar Otari said he has roped in some translators to address the local population in Madia, Gondia and Telugu languages regarding the significance of social distancing, use of masks and other precautionary measures.
“We are taking help of the translators to create awareness among the villagers regarding the importance of shutting off their links and contacts with the rest of the places so as to avoid contracting the Covid-19. After understanding the importance of social distancing, the villagers are now disallowing entry to others into their hamlets,” he said.
Under the supervision of collector Singla, Gadchiroli also has become one of the first districts in the state to complete its health surveys by March 20 identifying 16,000 persons with travel history and quarantined them. “The quarantine period of around 12,500 persons is already over,” he said. Out of the 37 samples from the district sent for testing, 26 have been negative for Covid-19 infection.