Gujarat: Gando baval reins in mad rush to Amreli

RAJKOT: Gando baval (prosposis juliflora), which literally means an army of mad trees, has always been a cause of concern for its unbridled spread. But police in Gujarat's countryside have no complaints about this invasive weed.
They thorny plants have come as a handy weapon for Amreli cops to stop the influx of non-natives during this crucial lockdown. Cops have spread massive nets of gando baval in at least 1,000 internal roads from where people were entering the district by dodging the checkposts.
In fact, earth movers were used to dig deep pits and put gando baval trees in them. Those trying to use the roads, especially taking advantage of darkness, can surely get pricked all over their body if they run into these trees. At many places, bamboo logs were used for fencing the interior roads and then pits were stuffed with the thorny bushes.
As a result, people are left with no choice but to use the main roads and get medically screened at the checkposts.
Talking to TOI, Amreli superintendent of police Nirlipt Rai said, “We have blocked nearly 1,000 roads using these thorny trees. We can’t have cops manning every interior road, so we hit up on this innovative way of using the abundantly available gando bawal to stop them.”
“We also got a lot of cooperation of the villagers and district administration to block the roads,” said Rai.
The prickly blockages have been in place for the past eight days.
Nikunj Pandit, a school principal living in Sanjanvaav village near Rajula, said, “Barely a km from our village is Bhavnagar’s Kankot village. We had seen people using an interior road to come to Amreli. But it has been a week now that the road has been sealed with gando baval. This work is truly appreciable to ensure that our district remains safe.”
According to the rough estimates, nearly 80,000 natives of Amreli district have entered from the Surat since March 23. Knowing the geography well, a large number of them used the interior roads to reach their villages, making it impossible for the authorities to trace them.
There were incidents of people coming from Surat parking their cars in some villages on seeing the barricades and then going to their natives on foot. However, locals informed the police about such entrants who were then taken for medical test.
Amreli shares borders with Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Junagadh and Gir-Somnath. Barring Junagadh, other three districts, especially Rajkot and Bhavnagar, have witnessed a spike in Covid-19 cases and deaths too. However, there has not been single case in Amreli so far.
On Tuesday, the police examined 15 vehicles at various checkposts and out of total 87 people, eight were found coming outside the districts In all, 2,963 people who had entered by crossing the district boarders are under home quarantine