Bengalureans seeking jab in other dists face locals’ ire

Bengalureans seeking jab in other dists face locals’ ire

Rajiv Kalkod & Ranganath K TNN

Bengaluru/Kolar:14.05.2021

Youngsters from Bengaluru travelling to inoculation centres in surrounding districts such as Chikkaballapura, Tumakuru, Kolar and pockets of Bengaluru Rural like Nelamangala to get the Covid-19 shot, are increasingly running into resistance from locals, who say they are consuming their share of doses.

While arguments have broken out, no untoward incident has taken place. District administrations are deploying police at session sites such as government hospitals, where vaccines are being administered.

Police say locals are miffed with Bengalureans taking “their share” of doses, leaving them with a shortage. A senior officer said there is “no way” to stop anyone from going anywhere to take the vaccine. “The most we can do is pacify both sides,” he said.

The officer cited the example of a young woman who got into an argument with a software professional from Bengaluru outside Nelamangala government hospital. “The woman said her mother is unable to get the vaccine due to a shortage caused by increasing visitors from the city. The software professional replied saying that she should speak to the authorities concerned and that he was helpless. Similar scenes are being witnessed at other health centres outside Bengaluru,” he said.

However, Bengalureans say they have no choice. Nitish Kumar and Kameshwari, who are from Koramangala, travelled nearly 80 km to get the jab at a site in Chikkaballapura. Nitish, a tech company employee, told TOI that though he wanted to get the shot in Bengaluru, the only available slot showing on the CoWIN app was in Chikkaballapura. Since he was desperate to get the shot, he opted to travel there.

Local residents from these districts had approached senior police, requesting them to send back vaccine seekers from Bengaluru. “We told them we don’t have the right to stop anyone seeking the vaccine. They then asked us to arrange vaccines for them, but this again is not in our hand,” another senior officer from Chikkaballapura said.

In Kolar on Wednesday, hours before the government suspended the drive for people between 18 and 44 years, district in-charge minister Aravinda Limbavali said they were halting vaccinations for people below 44 years to streamline the process and to give locals priority. Scores of youth from Bengaluru are visiting far off places like Gudibande and Bagepalli in Kolar and Chikkaballapura for the jab.

Dr Jagadish, district surgeon, Kolar, told TOI that since there were complaints that people from Bengaluru got most of the doses on Monday, authorities decided to halt the drive with a view to give local youth priority.

Dr PV Ramesh, district surgeon, Chikkaballapura, said the vaccine drive is continuing in the district but admitted that most beneficiaries in the last couple of days were from Bengaluru.