Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh:
With a name that rhymes with the coronavirus pandemic, villagers in Uttar Pradesh’s Sitapur district are a troubled lot. Residents of Korauna village say they have been facing discrimination ever since COVID-19 started spreading around the world and reached India.
“No one is willing to come out; people are terrified in our village. When we tell people we are from Korauna, they avoid us. They don’t understand that it’s a village, not someone infected with the virus,” said Rajan, a resident of the village.
“Other people are so scared that they don’t even want to answer telephone calls,” he said.
“If we are out on roads and the police ask where we are headed to and we tell them that we are going to Korauna, they look unsettled. What can we possibly do if our village has such a name?” another local Sunil said.
Ramji Dixiti, a resident, said, “When we telephone people and tell them that we are calling from Korauna, they immediately cut our calls thinking someone is playing a joke on them.”
The country is under a three-week lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus, which according to the Health Ministry has infected over 1,000 people in India.
