Hunsur: With hundreds of labourers travelling in jeeps and other vehicles from Hanagodu region in Hunsur for work in Coffee estates in Kodagu and neighbouring Kerala, Hunsur Taluk Administration has taken measures to screen all of them for COVID-19. 

On the first day of the Lockdown yesterday, Dr. Girish of Doddahejjur Primary Health Centre near Veeranahosahalli, coming under Nagarahole National Park, where a check-post has been set up, screened about 500 workers who had come in 42 jeeps, most of whom are from tribal hamlets and recorded their health status, following which some of  the workers were allowed to leave for their workplace in Kodagu and Kerala border districts under the supervision of the Forest Department. Out of the 500 workers who underwent screening, those permitted were allowed to travel in 22 jeeps to estates in Kerala and Kodagu, while the rest who were rejected on health grounds, were sent back to their villages in 20 jeeps, upon the order of the Tahsildar.

Meanwhile, with the State Government announcing a lockdown, the Taluk Administration must ensure that there is no movement of labourers from Hanagodu region to Kodagu and Kerala. 

More than 500 labourers from Hanagodu region, who are mostly from tribal hamlets, will travel to work daily from Hanagodu to Coffee estates in Titimati, Birunani, Kutta and other places in Kodagu and to Kattikulam in Manandavadi district of Kerala. With the lockdown in place, the Taluk Administration must take measures for halting movement along Karnataka-Kerala border, by distributing ration to tribal people and educate them regarding COVID-19. This will go a long way in checking the spread of virus in Kodagu and Mysuru, from across Kerala border.