A banner in Kellur, Karnataka, speaks for the village

A banner in Kellur, in Chikkamagaluru district, categorically announces that movement of people to and from the village is banned.

The banner announces the ban on the movement of people to and from Kellur.

Kellur, Chikkamagaluru for Spectrum 

A banner in Kellur, a hamlet of around 70 houses, in Mudigere taluk of Chikkamagaluru district, Karnataka, categorically announces that movement of people to and from the village is banned till the spread of the novel coronavirus is controlled.

Some of the villagers have taken upon themselves to enforce the curfew in their village. On March 25, this banner was put up by a few conscious people at the main road leading to the village to ensure that people pay heed to the prime minister’s call for a national lockdown and keep their village safe.

“We are manning the road leading to our village to prevent people from outside entering it and have appealed to the villagers to stay indoors and not go out,” says Shashikanth, who along with his friends put up the banner.

“People are allowed to go out only to make essential purchases,” he says.

Those who have returned from Bengaluru have been instructed to self-quarantine. And those who are planning to return to Kellur from other places have been asked to stay back. Their families who were apprehensive initially have been made to understand the scale of the problem, and why it is necessary to prevent people from entering the village.

The villagers have been counselled on the necessity of taking such measures.

“The villagers are obliging, but due to pepper harvesting season in coffee estates, labourers from other villages are still coming to Kellur using different routes. To stop this, we have formed small teams to go around and inspect individual estates. We are advising the estate owners to put off work till the curfew is lifted,” Shashikanth says.

Every gram panchayat in the taluk has formed a committee comprising gram panchayat president, panchayat development officers, staff of primary health centres and anganwadis, who are keeping a check on the health of the people.