Social Distancing Goes For A Toss In Boudh Village! Scores of People Enter Pond To Catch Fish

Boudh: While the COVID-19 single-day cases continue to dip in Odisha, violation of social distancing norms in the ongoing coronavirus-induced lockdown has become a new headache for the enforcement authorities.

In Boudh district’s Uma Panchayat, scores of villagers of the locality were seen violating social distancing norms by entering into the village pond to catch fish.

According to sources, over a hundred locals entered the pond on Tuesday morning and caught fish from the waterbody. Besides, hundreds of other locals, without wearing mandatory face masks, thronged to see them fishing. The place was heavily crowded for a couple of hours.

On being informed about the incident, Kantamal BDO reached the spot and dispersed the villagers who had gathered there, and urged them to follow COVID appropriate behaviour.

“The villagers of Uma Panchayat were seen fishing in a pond. After witnessing a huge crowd, it was observed that all the prescribed norms of social distancing were flouted. As soon as possible, Block authorities reached the spot and pacified them,” an official in the BDO office said.

Reportedly, a majority of western Odisha districts which became the hotspot in the initial stage of this second wave of the pandemic continue to witness fall in the infection cases.