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A team of Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers in Bengaluru were allegedly surrounded, shoved and had their bags and phones snatched by residents of a locality.
The incident occurred on Wednesday afternoon in Saraipalya in the Byatarayanapura area of the city.
Seven teams of ASHA workers were spreading awareness about coronavirus and collecting information from residents, particularly asking if they are showing any symptoms of the disease.
Between 12:30 and 1 pm on Wednesday, a team of workers were allegedly stopped and surrounded by residents in Saraipalya. "An announcement was made in the local mosque telling residents to not give any information to us, especially phone numbers," says Shweta, an ASHA worker who was working in the area.
Shwetha's mother Krishnaveni was also one of the health workers conducting surveillance and she said that she was surrounded and her bag and phone were snatched away by the local residents
ಮನೆ ಬಾಗಿಲಿಗೆ ಬಂದು #Covid19 ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಜಾಗೃತಿ ಮೂಡಿಸುವ ವೈದ್ಯರು, ನರ್ಸ್ ಗಳು, ಆಶಾ ಕಾರ್ಯಕರ್ತರು ಹಾಗೂ ಈ ಸಂಕಷ್ಟದ ಸಮಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಹಗಲಿರುಳು ದುಡಿಯುತ್ತಿರುವವರು ದೇವರ ಸಮಾನ. ಅವರನ್ನು ಗೌರವದಿಂದ ನೋಡಿ. ಅವರ ಮೇಲೆ ಹಲ್ಲೆ ನಡೆದರೆ ನೋಡಿಕೊಂಡು ಸುಮ್ಮನೆ ಕೂರಲಾಗುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ಎಚ್ಚರವಿರಲಿ!! pic.twitter.com/1pAJOEZCrE
— B Sriramulu (@sriramulubjp) April 2, 2020
According to the ASHA workers, the local residents feared that the collection of information was related to the National Register of Citizens (NRC). "The same thing had happened earlier in Hegde Nagar. The people we met were confused that this survey was somehow related to the NRC," Shwetha said. "The mobile numbers we had put together were crossed out by them," Shwetha added.
BJP leader and Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Ashwath Narayan condemned the incident. "They (ASHA workers) were doing surveillance after a house help in the locality was infected with coronavirus. ASHA workers were visiting each and every house to collect information," he told reporters.
He added that the incident had demoralised ASHA workers and that he had directed the jurisdictional police station to register a case in connection with the incident.
Health officials stated that ASHA workers will be accompanied by a policemen while collecting information in the area.
ASHA workers in Karnataka have been tasked with spreading awareness about coronavirus. They are also going door-to-door to collect information from residents about those who have returned from a foreign country and those who are showing symptoms of the virus.