LAITRYNGEW: It is a mystery for the village of Laitryngew that is witnessing deaths one after the other in the last two months.
Speaking to The Shillong Times, the secretary of Laitryngew village, Remington Buhsan, said two-three deaths in a week is nothing new to the village. “There was a time when there would be 10 deaths in a month,” he said.
Buhsan informed that there were six deaths within a month in the village. “Those were due to other diseases as the deceased had history of medical complications”, he said.
The SDO of Sohra Civil-Sub Division also called him to enquire about the deaths.
A 14-year-old girl also passed away recently at the Laitryngew PHC. He said, “She had been hospitalised in Nazareth and came back. She was looking fine but all of a sudden fell ill again and succumbed.”
Out of the six persons who died, four were from BPL families.
Some of them were treated at Reid Chest (TB) Hospital, Nazareth Hospital and Civil Hospital and none of the deaths “is linked to COVID”.
Scarlet Swer, mother of the deceased teenager, said, “She had chest complications since she was six-years-old. It was last year in November that we went to Nazareth.”
Buhsan said people in the village usually suffer from pneumonia, seasonal flu, diarrhoea.
An official source said, “Those deaths are mainly due to their medical history and have nothing to do with the pandemic. If anything, we are keeping a tab.”
On the other hand, he informed that 19 people who visited Bethany Hospital were quarantined and have already completed their quarantine period.
However, the village will request the head office of Ramakrishna Mission (RKM) in Sohra to allow the village to use the RKM, Laitryngew, as a quarantine centre.
Buhsan said that one person from Mumbai and another from Goa are coming on Sunday. “We will discuss what to do. The people who came from these areas cannot be under home quarantine due to space problem,” he added.
He said that the Dorbar Shnong of Laitryngew are working together with the government to combat the spread of COVID-19.
Health Minister AL Hek, DHS (MI) Aman War and the PHC doctor also conducted awareness programme in the village.
“However, with restrictions being eased, the people are getting some employment in construction sites, but the price of raw materials here like cement is high… even hardware shops are not many and the price differs,” Buhsan said.
Asked whether the Rs 1000 for daily wage labourers was received, Buhsan said that he was not aware of it.
The village has 1,000 households. While 642 have ration cards 30 per cent are regarded as poorest of the poor. The MLA and the MDC as well as social organisations distributed essential items.
Buhsan also said about 80 per cent of the population were coal miners whose livelihood was badly affected after the 2014 NGT ban.
“After the coal ban, they shifted to other work such as sand mining, stone quarrying and some left the village in search of employment. The tourism business was also thriving in the village but shut down following the lockdown. We have Umstew tourist spot and it has helped a lot of people. Even the number of tourists was surging,” he added.
