LEADING FROM THE FRONT
India’s districts are the ground zero in the country’s war against the coronavirus. And administrative officers are rewriting the rulebook as they navigate the pandemic
India’s districts are ground zero in the war against COVID-19. How their administrative officers are navigating the pandemic
By the last week of March, the textile town of Bhilwara in Rajasthan had become a COVID-19 hotspot with 27 positive cases and two deaths. The district administration swung into action, implementing a ruthless lockdown strategy backed by a curfew. The district was isolated, hotspots identified, door-todoor screening along with aggressive contact tracing done while healthcare infrastructure such as quarantine facilities and isolation wards ramped up. To keep people indoors, essential items were delivered to residents at their doorstep. The result: Bhilwara has not reported a new case since March 30. Of the 27 people who were infected, 17 have recovered.
The Bhilwara model is being replicated in the state’s other districts and has received praise from the entire country. Behind the planning and implementation of this successful strategy was district magistrate Rajendra Bhatt. Like this 57-year-old officer, who was nominated to the IAS in 2007, many other administrative officers across India are playing a critical role in the country’s fight against the coronavirus. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Union government has been leading the national strategy, the districts are ground zero, where the real war is on. The district administrations are fighting it on many fronts and, amid all of it, every step must be taken to arrest the spread of the disease. The job doesn’t end at containment, they now have to hand-hold the country’s economic revival, and it starts with the factories and farms in their jurisdiction.
That’s where the leadership in the district comes into play. Like Bhatt, his colleagues across India have had to face the most unprec
edented challenges in these past few days. The country’s poor health infrastructure and weak social security system have made their job more complicated as they walk the tightrope between saving lives and livelihoods. They have risen to the challenge, working unreasonable hours, thinking and innovating on their feet, and, when needed, donning the role of ruthless administrator. They have risked infection to stand by the health workers, municipal staff and police force. The 16 district warriors profiled here offer a glimpse of India’s frontline fight against COVID-19. Their stories are emblematic of the efforts and sacrifices of their many colleagues in districts across the country. ■
In less than a week, on March 23, the first local transmission—a primary contact of the Indonesian group—emerged. Konduru initiated contact-tracing through the IDSP (Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme) and police teams identified the area and the routes the carriers took. Movement was restricted in the area they had stayed in, a mosque in Karimnagar. Konduru earmarked the epicentre and buffer zones and initiated rapid health surveys as well as special sanitation drives.
A door-to-door search of 13,428 households was done in Karimnagar city. Some 70 people were identified as possible carriers and though all but one tested negative, they were kept under quarantine. Konduru reached out to community elders to gain their confidence and encourage voluntary compliance.
Meanwhile, the Karimnagar district hospital (DH) arranged a 200-bed Covid ward, including a 25-bed ICU facility and six ventilators. While the DH facility was ready by mid-March, Konduru roped in the two private medical colleges in Karimnagar—Chalmeda and Prathima—where 500 beds and 100 ICU beds respectively were earmarked for COVID-19 patients if and when needed.
Creating systems, ensuring accountability and a focused approach being Konduru’s watchwords, it meant undertaking several tasks. Among them were strategising the district’s approach and procedural aspects as events unfolded each day; ensuring teams of different departments were protected and at the same time motivated; and ensuring the best care possible for those infected.
“In a pandemic-like situation, the challenge is to gain the confidence of the community,” admits Shashanka. “Continuous dialogue and communication has helped in this. A systematic approach and compliance with protocols irrespective of an area or a person has enabled us to gain the confidence of everyone.” Karimnagar is no communal tinderbox but there was the risk of a sharp divide escalating, but that is in the past now. Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao had announced that he would visit Karimnagar, his former Lok Sabha constituency which now has a BJP MP, but later abandoned the plan. ■