A social worker and the district authorities were caught in a battle over Covid patients in Doddagubbi village near Kothanur, north side of the city.
On May 13, a video of social worker Auto Raja trying to immolate himself went viral.
He was resisting efforts to shift about 70 Covid-19 affected patients to a BBMP facility.
In the video, he alleged Tahsildar S Ajith Kumar Rai had threatened to cane him and forcibly take people out.
Auto Raja, from Tamil Nadu, runs Home of Hope under the auspices of New Ark Mission of India.
He has an interesting past. He was thrown out of his house after he was caught committing petty crimes as a teenager. After a stint in prison, he came to Bengaluru and lived on the streets. That is when he saw hundreds of beggars, mentally ill people and destitute women roaming the streets.
Reformed after his stint in jail, Raja began driving an auto and feeding the poor.
He rented a house and started off with 13 inmates, and his efforts later grew into the New Ark Mission of India at Doddagubbi village. It now houses 750 people he has picked up from the streets.
About 250 have turned positive and government officials wanted to relocate them to a Covid Care Centre on the GKVK campus in Hebbal. “Most of the inmates are orphans and destitutes with psychiatric problems. The government treats them only for Covid. Who will treat them for their mental problems?” Raja says.
After the video went viral, the authorities gave out medical kits, PPE kits and helped with the cremation of two Covid victims. The home remained neglected till then, he alleges.
C K Baba, deputy commissioner of police, says people at the home staged a dharna to resist being taken to the centre. “That is illegal during a pandemic. That is why we had to call in some extra forces,” says Baba.
A senior policeman at the Sampigehalli station says most inmates who have tested positive don’t have Aadhaar cards and government documents.
“While Raja is doing great service, we need to save their lives by taking them to a government Covid facility,” he says.
Ajith Kumar Rai, tahsildar, Bengaluru East, says, “They were acting on emotion and we were working at containing the spread of the disease.” Covid patients staying on the same campus as others could lead to serious consequences, he says.
“About 200 to 300 people test positive around this gram panchayat every day,” he told Metrolife.
The inmates who tested positive were finally taken to the BBMP GKVK Covid Care Centre in Hebbal which has 380-bed facility. Venkatesh K R, nodal officer, is treating 70 inmates of the Home of Hope. “Most of them are asymptomatic,” he told Metrolife.
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