Malkangiri: While the whole world is grappling with the pandemic coronavirus for the last nine months there's one community that has not even heard of it.
The tribals of the remote Bondaghati ask “What is this Coronavirus?"
Unbelievable it may sound, but that's what the Odisha's Bonda tribal Community claims.
Talking to ETV Bharat, the tribals in a tell-all interview revealed that the senior officers of the Odisha Government have forgotten ‘Bondaghati’, the native land of the Bonda tribal Community.
"No government official has visited the villages in Bondaghat in so long. Forget about enquiring about the wellbeing of our tribal people, no officer has come here to even sensitise us for fear of the Covid-19 virus," the tribals claim.
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The whole community knows nothing about wearing a mask, washing hands frequently, maintaining social distance, and how to keep oneself safe from the dreaded virus.
While both the State and the Central Government are beating their drums about making more and more people aware of the virus, the fact that there's a whole community unaware of COVID-19 paints the real picture of the situation.
Bondaghati consists of two Gram Panchayats Mudulupada and Andrahal Grama Panchayats under Khairput block of the district. The two Gram Panchayats are divided into 32 villages where over 5000 aboriginal tribal people live.
When ETV Bharat visited the area, we saw none, starting from small children to the old people wearing a mask or covering their face.
Surprisingly, nobody in the community has also been infected.
However, the former MLA of the area has warned that if once the virus reaches Bondaghati, it would cause massive community transmission here.
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With the government forgetting about the tribals, these people are always left to fend themselves against coronavirus.
