After a back-breaking 1,300- km cycle trip from COVID-19 hotspot Mumbai to his village in Odisha’s Balangir district, Kishore Behera believed he had actually escaped hell but little did the 31- year-old mason expect the shock and scary waiting for him in his Biripali town.
With 12 positive cases reported in the town with a population of 3,000, Mr. Behera went neither to a quarantine centre, as is the norm, nor to his home. He, instead, discovered haven in a roadway culvert.
” I opted to cycle all the way from Mumbai on Might 7 and did not look for pickup from passing trucks fearing I might contract coronavirus. On reaching my town, I discovered no social distance being complied with in quarantine centres. I, together with my buddies, took shelter in a half-constructed Indira Awas Yojna house,” he stated.
As there was no water connection in the house, he and his seven migrant labourer good friends chose to remain in culverts that used some respite from the scorching temperature level soaring past 45 degrees Celsius and unseasonal rain.
” My neighbours will not absolutely feel happy to find me hugging them. My family members will be in difficulty if I get into my home,” stated the mason, who admits to being frightened of snakebites.
