A private bus driver involved in transportation of migrant labourers had been confined to his vehicle since Saturday as neighbours had refused to allow him to enter his village in Hooghly district for fear of Covid-19 spread.
After four days of stay inside the bus, Prabir Kumar Dey, 43, could finally enter his home at Patulsara near Goghat on Tuesday evening following the intervention of local administration.
Dey had been ferrying migrant labourers from Hooghly to various states and districts in Bengal during the coronavirus-induced national lockdown. He had transported migrants to Jharkhand, Odisha and Bihar and brought people stuck in those states back to Bengal.
“Initially, there was no problem to enter the home. Although I used a mask, headgear and gloves during my duty, I used to keep a safe distance from my family members.
Suddenly, a group of neighbours barred my entry on Saturday and since then, I have been living in the vehicle which is parked along road,” said the driver.
Dey would sleep inside the bus and buy food from roadside hotels.
Sources said the villagers had held a meeting last week and decided to allow in Dey only if he had quarantined himself at a local school for 14 days upon his each assignment. “It is not possible for me to undergo a 14-day quarantine after each trip. How can I survive then?” Dey asked.
The villagers allegedly threatened to throw out Dey’s family members if they allowed him in.
The driver’s daughter, Sushmita Dey, is a nursing student in Bangalore. She said there was no male member in the family to harvest the paddy in their field.
“My mother and I are at home and my father is the only male member. We are not getting essentials as there is no one to take care of that. My father funds my education with his earnings from the sale of paddy. If the paddy is not harvested, the crop will ruin,” said Sushmita.
“We have four rooms at our two-storey house. Being a nursing student, I have some knowledge about the disease. But the villagers are not ready to listen to us,” she added.
Local gram panchayat member Pradip Pal said: “I know about Prabir’s problem as he is my friend. I am unable to help him because of the villagers’ objections.”
Left with no option, Dey on Monday wrote to the local block development officer seeking administrative help.
When the appeal did not work, Sushmita called up Arambagh subdivisional officer Nripendra Singh, who assured her of action. Later, she received a call from the local block office promising that the issue would be resolved soon.
Asked whether quarantine was mandatory for drivers, a senior official in Hooghly said: “They (drivers) are given protective gears and we always check their health. If everyone who helps combat the coronavirus is sent into quarantine, who will work?”
Singh’s initiative worked and by late Tuesday evening, Dey was allowed to return home. “I have looked into the driver’s complaint. Whenever he was on duty, we gave him protective gears and he undertook necessary precautions. So, there was no reason to harass him. Our officials got in touch with the villagers and ensured his return home on Tuesday evening.”