CHANDIGARH: After a diktat from Khap panchayats in Haryana, villagers have put in place "Thikri Pehra" round the clock by forming teams of 8 to 10 persons in each village, to make sure that no outsider enters the village during the 21-day national lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Rashtriya Maha Khap Maha Panchayat convenor Sunil Jaglan send a message to all khaps and sarpanches of villages asking them not to allow outsiders in their respective villages be it from within the country or outside.
"In most of the villages, a rope has been put on the entrance of the village and a group of 8 to 10 people, maintaining a distance of two meters from each other, take guard to ensure nobody is allowed inside the village, even if he/she is a kin of a villager," Jaglan said.
"People have been told to postpone marriage functions and fix them after a month. They have also been advised not to bring their cattle on village ponds for drinking water and not to sit and talk with each other," he added.
Jaglan also recalled that though people were not agreeing to the idea initially as around 200 to 250 people came on the village pond but have now agreed. "We are now writing to the district authorities to start sanitization of each and every village as this demand has been raised by the villagers themselves. Also when the 'Janta Curfew' started, many people from the villages, who were working in cities, came back to their families and are still here. Some of them have self-quarantined themselves as most of them have not been medically examined and hence, the sensitisation of villages is necessary," Jaglan said.
Mehan Khap chief Tulsi Grewal said that the system implemented by all the khaps is much better than the police and no one is coming and going out of the villages. "By rotation, the groups manning the "thikri pehra" keep a watch. With marriages being postponed, villagers have also started spraying chemicals to sanitize their villages with the help of tractor trolleys and spraying instruments. They have also rationed their food so to cope with any eventuality," said Grewal.
What is a Khap?
Khaps are caste or community-driven organizations in villages which act as quasi-judicial bodies and pronounce punishments based on age-old customs and traditions.
There are around 170 khap panchayats across Haryana covering all villages. They have been known for issuing bizarre diktats as the state is notorious for honour killings.