Agra: Help reached a large number of villages in Agra, after a series of reports highlighting an alarming increase in the number of deaths.

Local MP Raj Kumar Chahar visited a number of villages recently and promised help. Medical teams along with senior officials are also fanning out to monitor the situation.

Meanwhile, Thanks to the lockdown, the Covid-19 graph has begun showing a downward trend in Agra. Health department officials said the availability of beds had improved and the Oxygen supply too had increased.

In the neighboring districts too, the downward trend is now clearly discernible. In Aligarh, the AMU Medical College received fresh supplies of medicines and Oxygen.

However, the worrying aspect was the return of complacency. People were seen without masks and crowding up city buses. The Halwai shops bristled with activity as people were back for the morning ‘Naashta’ of Kachauri-Jalebi.

In the vast rural hinterland of Agra, trouble is brewing as the number of deaths is claimed to be alarmingly high. “Visit any village, it is the same story of deaths and sufferings, though there is no way to get confirmed figures of deaths in the rural areas. But everywhere you go it is a scary scenario,” a village panchayat secretary said.

In village Bamrauli Katara, ten kilometers from the city, there have been more than 40 deaths in the past month. Blame is being attributed to large public meetings for the recent panchayat elections, without following the Covid protocol.

Villagers said that the local government health centers rarely open, and no treatment is available to the villagers. “People are thus forced to go to the quacks, “Jhola Chaaps” who give medicines without tests.

An elderly person Tula Ram said, a large number of old men and women had died, as there was no one to take care of them or transport them to the health centers for fear of catching the infection.

To rub salt to the wounds, few dared to perform the last rites of the deceased, as people were scared of touching bodies, added another villager. “The conditions are pathetic and there is no early hope for respite,” said a young activist of the area Sonvir Singh.

Teams are now visiting other villages as well after alarming reports of deaths in the rural belt of Agra.

“Actually, the Covid19 containment strategy has so far remained urban-centric. No thought was given to the impact of migrants returning home and later the panchayat elections. Now you see the effects in full fury. It’s difficult to guess the number of deaths in the past month. It’s a health disaster,” added a local leader Jagan Prasad. However the scene is not uniform, some areas are still unaffected, he clarified.

The health department officials should immediately fan out and provide health care to the villages. “The monsoon rains could make the situation worse. Though primary health centers and sub-units of the extension departments are there the staff crunch keeps them shut,” said another rural activist Manik Chand.