JAGATSINGPUR: With Jagatsinghpur police administration lacking adequate manpower to enforce coronavirus lockdown in rural parts of the district, villagers have taken up the cudgels to ensure there is social distancing and no one steps out of their homes except for emergency cases.
Residents of Mangarajpur under Kujang block, about 15 km from Paradip Port where crew members from foreign countries are being quarantined, have decided not to allow outsiders to enter the village and also prevent social gathering by their residents.
They have formed a group of youths and erected barricades at the village to prevent entry of outsiders or allowing locals including the workers to step out of the village.
The group patrols the village round the clock to ensure complete lockdown. Hundreds of youths of the panchayat are employed as contractual workers in the port, IOCL Refinery, IFFCO and Paradip Phosphates Ltd.
People of Markandpur village under Jagatsinghpur Municipality have also erected bamboo barricades for prevent entry of outsiders.
At Gopalpur-Sankheswer panchayat under Tirtol block, villagers are ensuring that 16 local workers, who have returned from Kerala and Maharastra recently, are kept in home quarantine. SP R Prakash appreciated the efforts of villagers.