M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, Nov. 24: Farmers of Palamu put their priorities upfront. They have chosen to harvest the standing paddy crop first and then take the covid vaccine.
ANM Sushma Kumari said that she along with verifier Girja Ram went to a difficult area, Saheeyar, under the Naudiha Bazar police station about 80 kilometres away from Daltonganj for providing vaccines to the rural people.
The eligible women told the two that they will first harvest the paddy crop, bundle the sheaves, bring them home and then they will take the vaccine if they are left with any more time.
When told that the vaccination procedure is just a two-minute job, the women retorted what if they get down with a fever after taking the jab. Then they will not be in a position to harvest the crop.
They said that they will lose wages and bundles of paddy crops which they can’t afford to miss.
Sushma Kumari said it was a tough situation for her and her verifier. She told the women that the vaccination team has especially come to their doorstep and if they don’t take the vaccine today, they will have to travel down 25 kilometres to take the vaccine afterwards, which will entail travelling expenses and lots of time.
After a little resistance, the women finally agreed to take the vaccine.
ANM Sushma Kumari informed that she could do only 20 vaccinations at Saheeyar which took her more than two hours.
Civil surgeon (CS) Palamu, Dr. Anil Kumar, said that the house to house vaccination drive is confronting with this issue of paddy harvesting more now.
The wages and the bundles of paddy earned by a farmer last for three months of the year and hence, vaccination has been back-seated for the hard manual job of the harvesting.
Dr. Anil said the common fear among these farmers is that there will be an onset of fever and that will keep them away from the standing paddy crop in the field.
He said they are trying hard to get to every household in the area to cover the vaccination target.
