People in this small village in Sitapur district say that others in surrounding areas have been mistreating them, mocking them. (Photo Credit: ANI/Twitter)
New Delhi:
A village in Uttar Pradesh's Sitapur is facing an identity crisis of pandemic level! The residents of this village are annoyed and the reason is very peculiar. If William Shakespeare was alive today, he couldn't have said 'what's in a name', at least not to the residents of 'Korauna'! The name of the village rhymes with the contagion's name and it has put the villagers in a tight spot. Such is the fear and confusion, that others in the surrounding areas have stopped talking to the dwellers of 'Korauna' village. "No one is willing to come out; people are terrified in our village. When we tell people we are from Korauna, they avoid us. They don't understand that it's a village, not someone infected with the virus," Rajan, a resident of the village, was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. (Coronavirus Outbreak LIVE Updates)
India has so far registered over 1,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 infections with 27 deaths. The government is trying hard to seal borders and impose the shutdown to prevent community transmission. Uttar Pradesh being the most populous state needs to be extra vigilant. The exodus of migrants due to lockdown has thrown a new challenge for the Yogi Adityanath government. Thousands of migrants from Delhi and other parts of the country have been traveling on foot in a desperate attempt to reach their villages in Uttar Pradesh.
The state government has been running special buses to ferry the migrants. The new orders, however, states that no migrant will be able to reach his/her home. Every single person entering Uttar Pradesh will be quarantined for 14 days. The Yogi government is taking over several empty places to provide shelter to the migrants.
On March 21, CM Yogi Adityanath had announced that Rs 1,000 each will be given 15 lakh daily wage labourers and 20.37 lakh construction workers to help them meet their daily needs in view of the impact of the novel coronavirus outbreak. Yogi Adityanath appealed people to not panic over coronavirus. "We've sufficient stock of essential commodities and medicines in the state. So please don't rush to shops to buy things and hoard commodities," the chief minister had said.
(With agency inputs)
