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Dimapur, April 28 (EMN): As the Covid-19 battle rages on, the Nagaland government has been reaching out to people, helping citizens both at home and outside Nagaland.
However, at a time when essential commodities are necessary for survival, a sub-division under Dimapur district is struggling to meet even basic needs due to the current extraordinary circumstances.
The Dhansiripar sub-division, which is approximately 28 km away from the district commissioner’s office and consists of more than 35 villages, has rarely seen progress.
However, the people living under this sub-division are set on overcoming the lockdown in spite of the poor road conditions, poor schooling system, and poor healthcare facility, with their limited resources.
Maihamdi Indane Gramin Vitrak (MIGV) in Dhansiripar village, is the only gas supply agency in the sub-division, and provides the basic requirement to thousands of people living in the area.
Speaking to Eastern Mirror, a staff of the gas agency, said that they have been distributing approximately 50-60 gas cylinders on a daily basis since the lockdown started.
The gas cylinders are being sold at INR 760 for those with cards. In addition, home delivery services are also offered at INR 850 per cylinder, he said.
According to him, the people there were ‘better than others’ as there was no case of panic buying of gas cylinders from their agency.
When enquired about the chain of supply, he said that the agency orders the gas cylinders monthly. He also informed that it takes around 3-4 days to procure the supply from the distribution point (town) to the agency’s store, and that each consignment usually consists of 6-7 truckload.
However, he said that it was difficult to meet the demand of the people as the number of consumers was large and the supply was not sufficient stating that “the agency runs out of stock most of the time”.
Eastern Mirror also spoke to various people belonging to different villages of the sub-division about how they were faring given the lockdown, especially when there are no ATMs around to ease some hardships.
An elderly man who runs a small shop at Dhansiripar village said that the lockdown had made him helpless when life in the sub-division was already a struggle.
According to him, the entirety of the sub-division was far away from having any ATM branch. However, he shared that if the government opens at least one ATM branch, it would be a big relief to everyone.
“We don’t have any ATM branches out here, and on top of that, we cannot go to town to withdraw money. Now, where will we go to get the money we need for survival?” asked the shop owner.
Another shopkeeper from Kiyeto village said that he has been giving away money to people in need with the help of internet banking. According to him, customers take some amount of money in cash and pay him through online banking services like Google Pay, Paytm, etc.
However, he said that he has to go to town to deposit the money in his account again, which is a problem.
During one such trip, he said that men in uniform beat him on his way back to the village after procuring the essential commodities, which the villagers depends on for their daily meal.
He shared that he is uncertain about how to proceed in the coming days if the lockdown continues.