No Covid cases, but NCR hamlet is cut off from vaccines too
NOIDA: Even though Gautam Budh Nagar district is the second most inoculated district of Uttar Pradesh, the tiny village of Dalelpur is still waiting for its first Covid-19 vaccine.
The only village in the district that falls across the Yamuna, Dalelpur is closer to Faridabad in Haryana by road. The national vaccine programme was rolled out in mid-January, and opened up for general citizens from March. But four months on, none of the Dalelpur residents have been vaccinated, said Kailash Chaprana (55), the head of the village. “Our village doesn’t have a government hospital or health centre, and no health department official has visited the village since vaccines were rolled out,” Chaprana said.
He said Dalelpur has a population of about 500 of which 250 are eligible for the vaccines. But so far, he claimed, no resident has been infected with Covid-19 either.
Residents must use a rickety boat to cross the river to visit Noida and Greater Noida, but most try to avoid it as the boat is in a poor condition and buying a new boat is a expensive.
“Most residents have stopped going towards Noida and only travel there when absolutely necessary for official work... As a result, it is usually only three to four families in the village that use the boat. Now that the existing one is broken, we will need to buy a new one for ₹70,000 from Mathura, Vrindawan or Haridwar and get it transported here,” said Chaprana. Sky-high buildings located along the Noida-Greater Noida expressway in sectors 146, 135 and 164 are easily visible from Dalelpur. But it takes the villagers nearly 20 minutes to cross the river to get to the other side. By road, it would take them over oneand-a-half hours to reach the same spot, which is 60km away.
The ride from Noida to the village goes via several inter-state borders: UP-Delhi, Delhi-Haryana, and Haryana-UP.
District magistrate Suhas LY said a door-to-door vaccine programme has been put on hold due to a shortage of jabs.
“Vaccination is only being done for those who have registered on CoWIN. I am sure if the village residents register and book slots on the app, they will get jabs at the nearest Covid vaccination centre (CVC). When the vaccine shortage ends, we will restart the door-todoor scheme,” Suhas said.
The nearest CVC is 46 km or over an hour’s drive away as the village does not have any community or primary health centre or any government hospital. The villagers say if the authorities can build a bridge over the river for the villagers to cross over, most of their issues will be resolved.