The outbreak of Covid-19 has cast what the scientific community last month termed a “premature and unfair” pall over the bat species.

But in the midst of a tug-of-war between science and popular opinion, people on the outskirts of West Burdwan’s Durgapur town have remained unchanged in its egalitarian — and in such times, enlightened — attitude towards the flying mammals.

In late April, an official statement issued by 64 Asian-origin chiropterologists had laid out seven points arguing that bats were being singled out as being the origin of the coronavirus and stigmatised in the absence of proper evidence.

The 1,500-odd residents of Khatpukur, near ward 28 of Dugapur Municipal Corporation, maintain that local fruit bats are the rightful inhabitants of the forest-bordering area where their forefathers settled only two or three generations ago.

“My father told me that he was used to seeing bats fly overhead, in this area, while he played in the afternoon with his friends,” said Khetra Nath Mandal, 75, a retired municipality employee.

“I also saw several while I was growing up, but we did not pay them any heed. We certainly didn’t mind them. It has always been an attitude of live and let live,” he added.

The story of bats vis-a-vis the coronavirus is contentious when broached by ordinary citizens not connected with advanced science. While some scientists think coronavirus could have originated from or thrived in certain bat species in China, there is no established link on how or whether it crossed over from bats to humans.

“We have never seen these creatures harm or attack human beings. They only eat fruits,” Mandal said.

Forest officers said Durgapur town was formerly a forested area and surrounding villages still retained such characteristics.

“The bats did not flee the area even after it was heavily urbanised a little over 100 years ago,” said a forester.

“There is no interaction between them and the human population, for better or worse. There are about 1,500 bats in this area now,” the officer said.

The foresters also said residents of the area were especially sensitised to their unusual neighbours and took special care of them.

“Residents of this area take particular care to ensure that no firecrackers are burst here during Diwali,” said another forest officer.

“When they are not harming us, who are we to say that they have no right to live here with us peacefully?” asked local resident Bhimsen Mandal, who is also Trinamul block president.

Bhabani Das, another resident of the area, is a homemaker who settled in Khatpukur as a newlywed more than a decade ago. “I was scared of the bats, and their noises, initially. But later, I got used to it after hearing my in-laws repeatedly refer to them as our neighbours,” she said.