As Villagers Turn Vigilantes & Seal Hamlet Borders, Rural Karnataka Turns Eerily Silent; Economy Hit

Bengaluru: The fear of contracting the dreaded coronavirus from outsiders has forced several villages in Hassan district of Karnataka to go for complete isolation.

At least a dozen villages in the district have cut off all links with the rest of the world by barricading themselves.

Locals at Hoovinahalli in Channarayapatna taluk have formed several teams, comprising villagers, who are guarding the village borders 24/7 in three different shifts.

The village has also put up a banner barring the entry of any outsider into the village till April 14. Even if the person is from their own village, they allow that person only after health department officials give a green signal on the individual.

At Ammanahatti village in Arasikere taluk, the village panchayat has blocked entry by using a saree as a curtain. It has banned the villagers from leaving or entering the habitation till April 14. Here too, young villagers are guarding all entry and exit points round the clock.

In the small town of Arakalgudu, the local MLA, AT Ramaswamy, has taken it upon himself to guard entry of people into the town. He has instructed local health department officials to check each and every person coming to Arakalgudu.

Locals of B Honnenahalli in Channarayapatna taluk have gone a step ahead by putting up a fence on the main roads leading to the village. If anyone goes near the village, the masked youth carrying sticks shoo him or her away.

This kind of vigilantism has, however, given to rise to some uncalled-for situations. A French tourist stranded near one of the villages was almost attacked by some ill-informed locals on Thursday. He was later handed over to police.

Also, most of these villages grow vegetables, coconut, produce milk and are into poultry. With dozens of villages deciding to go into complete isolation, the local economy has almost collapsed overnight. Local dairies are not getting enough milk and the supply of vegetables and meat has almost stopped.

A senior government official said the administration is aware of such social boycotts and corrective measures are being taken.

The Principal Secretary of the Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, LK Atheeq, told News18, "We are viewing such attempts with concern. To deal with this issue and to guide the rural communities in general through the coronavirus crisis, we have set up village-level task forces that will be chaired by panchayat chiefs. Detailed advisories have been issued to the task forces and these include promoting sanitation and hygiene, social distancing, monitoring the health of elderly and high-risk individuals and making arrangements for distribution of ration to the homes of children studying in Anganwadi centres."

"We are also training these task forces to create proper awareness on the pandemic and ensure there is no panic and boycott measures," he added.

According to reports from across the state, hundreds of villages have cut off all links with the outside world.

An eerie silence has descended over thousands of villages stretching hundreds of kilometres turning once beautiful and bustling rural Karnataka into a ghost state.