Rajnandgaon/Raipur: Authorities in Chhattisgarh — from Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel to Health Minister T.S. Singh Deo and various officials — are closely monitoring the Covid-19 surge in one particular district, Rajnandgaon, even though it is only third on the list of worst-affected districts in the state.
The reason, CM Baghel told ThePrint Tuesday, is that Rajnandgaon is a district bordering Maharashtra, and has a large migratory population that works or visits relatives in that state, which the novel coronavirus has impacted most.
“We have a migratory population there and people keep going and coming. Several families have temporary homes in Nagpur and they work there. When lockdown was imposed in Maharashtra around Holi, people suddenly came back to the villages in Rajnandgaon, which is why we saw a huge spike in April, even though cases were under control in March,” he said.
According to Chhattisgarh government data, as of 20 April, Rajnandgaon had a cumulative total of 39,563 cases since the beginning of the pandemic, and is one of the three high-burden districts in Chhattisgarh, behind capital Raipur with 1,20,862 cases and neighbouring Durg with 70,769. In the last month, Rajnandgaon has seen daily increase in cases rise from just 71 on 20 March to 825 on 20 April. There have been 79 deaths in the same period taking the total to 269.
To check the spike in cases, district administration officials claimed they were testing all incoming passengers from Maharashtra at Rajnandgaon. However, when ThePrint had visited Bagnadigaon border check post Sunday, it found that not only had testing stopped, officials on the Chhattisgarh side had even stopped insisting on negative Covid test reports, and were merely taking down names and contact information.
Shambhu Singh Bhandari, a police official on the Chhattisgarh side, told ThePrint: “All incoming vehicles from Maharashtra have to give their name and address details here. But we are not asking for a negative Covid report. We were testing all incoming passengers here, but that has stopped. The testing centre here shut down 10 days ago. Now, we only take down the passengers’ details.”
In contrast, on the Maharashtra side, not only was every vehicle being stopped to check for test reports, but a testing centre was planned to be set up within a week.
“People keep moving between these border villages because they have families and work on both sides. We are not letting anyone enter Maharashtra from Chhattisgarh if they don’t have a negative Covid report from the last 72 hours. We are also taking down all their details. A Covid testing centre will also be set up here this week,” said one of the three police personnel stationed at the Maharashtra side of the check post, who did not want to be identified.
A family of six on three motorbikes attempted to cross the border, but were immediately stopped by police officials on the Maharashtra said. “There’s a wedding in the next village in Maharashtra, which is why we were going there, but we don’t have a negative report,” said Rakesh, a member of the family from Rajnandgaon, who were eventually turned away.
However, Rajnandgaon district officials denied that testing had stopped. “We are still testing at the border. Maybe it was shut (on the day ThePrint visited) because it was Sunday, or for one or two days, but testing is underway,” said Mukesh Rawte, sub-divisional magistrate, Rajnandgaon.
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‘Chhattisgarh surge due to Maharashtra’
Officials in the Rajnandgaon administration as well as the Chhattisgarh government have pinned the blame for the surge in Covid cases on Maharashtra.
“From a comparative study of Covid-19 cases in the state, it is clear that more than 50 per cent of active cases are currently in the districts bordering Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. In other districts, this number is extremely meagre,” state Health Minister T.S. Singh Deo had said to ThePrint last month.
SDM Rawte added: “Rajnandgaon is a border district. The border is very porous and people have work and families on both sides. Maharashtra had a huge explosion of cases and people kept coming and going from there.”
Officials added that Rajnandgaon had also suffered because of its proximity to Durg district. “Cases increased because Rajnandgaon is sandwiched between Durg and Maharashtra. Increasing cases on both sides had a fallout in Rajnandgaon,” said Dr Mithilesh Choudhari, the district’s chief medical officer.
Authorities said laxity by the public has contributed to the surge. “While people kept moving when the lockdown was eased last year, they also refused to follow social distancing in markets and in public places,” said Rawte.
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Hospitals stretched beyond capacity
The high burden of cases is reflected in the long queues outside hospitals in Rajnandgaon town, where people from all over the district come in for treatment.
“I have been waiting for over an hour for a bed for my father-in-law,” said Dilip Prakash, who had come to the Government Medical College in Rajnandgaon from a village 55 km away.
Kosa Ram Sahoo, who had travelled from a village 40 km away, had been waiting for proper medical attention for his brother for days.
“My brother had tested positive four days ago. We consulted a doctor here in town but the doctor sent him back to the village and asked him to isolate even though he had breathing difficulties. Today, the village doctor said you need to get him to a hospital as his oxygen is low, so I got him here and waited for close to an hour for a bed,” he said.
With the lockdown, patients in the district are also finding it difficult to get transport into town. “I have got my mother here in an auto after great difficulty. Nobody was willing to bring her here because she is Covid positive, but what do I do? She’s old and needed to be admitted to hospital,” said Ved Prakash, who lives about 20 km away.
The situation is no better at private hospitals in Rajnandgaon. At the Sundara Hospital, workers in charge of admitting patients said that the inflow is constant. “We just discharged seven patients and admitted seven more from the queue and we are full again,” said N.C. Parekh, who was supervising admissions.
The authorities have now decided to ramp up hospital capacity. “We are increasing beds. The Government Medical College will soon have 500 beds, double the present capacity of 250. Another Covid care centre with 50 beds is being opened in Somni village. We will soon have a total of six private hospitals and a Covid care centre in each block in the district,” said CMO Choudhari.
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No testing at Raipur railway station
The Chhattisgarh government has also set up a small kiosk for testing at capital Raipur’s railway station, but here too, ThePrint found officials only taking down details of incoming passengers and checking their oxygen levels.
“We are waiting for antigen testing kits to arrive… Till then, we are only checking the oxygen levels of incoming passengers from other states and asking them to wait for the kits,” said K.L. Yadav, a health department official heading the help desk.
But even this was found to be untrue, as passengers were able to easily exit the station without being stopped.
ThePrint called Raipur CMO Meera Baghel for a comment, but did not receive a response.
Migrants staying put
Last year, Chhattisgarh, like other parts of the country, had seen a massive exodus of migrant workers, but officials said that has not been the case this time around as cases surged.
“There were crowds of migrants leaving in trucks last year because the lockdown was announced suddenly. But this time, there has been no such movement,” said the Maharashtra official at Bagnadigaon check point, quoted above.
Even at the Chhattisgarh checkpoint, officials said migrants were “not moving like last year”. Bhandari said people in private vehicles had been coming for treatment to Raipur or Durg, and “we are noting down their details”.
The state government has also put in place a small labour department kiosk at the Raipur railway station to take down details of incoming migrant workers. “We have been sitting here since yesterday, but not many migrants have come in. Yesterday, there were seven, and today, none yet,” labour department official R.R. Pal said Sunday.
“If they come, we take down their details of what they did in which state, so that we can help them if they need work here to avoid a situation like last year,” Pal added.
(Edited by Shreyas Sharma)
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