Villagers construct eco-friendly makeshift quarantine hut in Assam’s Dima Hasao district

The villagers of Hangrum village in Dima Hasao district have constructed an eco-friendly temporary home quarantine those who come to the village from outside.

The village is dominated by Zeme Naga tribal community people and located along Assam-Manipur border.

Following directives of the government, the villagers led by the village headman constructed a small cottage or hut with capacity of 15-20 persons by using bamboo, banana leaves outside of the village to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and its infection.

There is no electricity facility in the small cottage and according to the villagers, the people who come from outside will sleep on floor with banana leaf roofing and walls.

Majority people of the remote village are living under poverty line, but they have arranged a place to keep the outsiders separate from them for 14 days with their own capacity to fight against the novel Coronavirus and to save Hanguma.

According to the reports, the villagers had started to construct the separate quarantine hut on March 25 and it was completed in next two days.

A local resident of Hangrum village said the villagers have taken the initiative to save themselves and the village.

One each case has found in Manipur and Mizoram, but no positive case of COVID-19 has been identified in Assam so far.

(By Hemanta Kumar Nath, Guwahati)