DM, officials trek 5 hills to start vaccine drive

kolkata: Going beyond the call of duty, Alipurduar District Magistrate (DM) Surendra Kumar Meena along with his team trekked five hills and covered about 18kms to start the Covid vaccination drive at Adma, a remote village near the Indo-Bhutan border, on Saturday. With no motorable roads to the village, Meena and his teams trekked through hills and the core forest area of Buxa Tiger Reserve. The team, finally, inoculated all eligible beneficiaries there. About 100 beneficiaries aged 45 years and above were vaccinated.

"Vaccination in the district has been going on fine. However, considering the remote location and the socio economic background of Adma village, it was impossible for the residents to come to the vaccination centre. So, I channelised the health workers and took up the challenge,"Meena said.

He was accompanied by Prasanta Kumar Barman, the BDO of Kalchini block under which the village falls, along with state Health department employees and security personnel.

The team reached Raimatang, some 45km from the district headquarters by road. From there, they trekked uphill 9 km for four hours to reach Adma, where people of the Dukpa community live. Meena visited all households in the village and informed them about the motive of the Covid vaccination programme. Later, the team again trekked back for another four hours to reach Raimatang. The DM also organised an awareness programme on Covid, distributed masks and sanitisers among the villagers.