AIDS-affected couple ostracised

Manas R Bannerjee

MALDA, Nov. 22: A couple affected by HIV/AIDS has been ostracised by villagers owing to lack of proper awareness campaign about the deadly disease in rural belts of Malda district, the Malda district magistrate, Mr CR Das, said today. The DM today requested the officials concerned to visit the village where the victims live with a view to providing social protection to the couple. Workers of social welfare and integrated child development scheme would also be requested to launch a door-to-door campaign in the villages to aware the people on the deadly disease.The initiative, officials hope, would prevent injustice being caused to the HIV/AIDS-affected people in the rural areas.The DM said it was "unfortunate" that the couple had been ostracised by the villagers.The couple, Mr Swapan Mandal and his wife Mrs Tokia Mandal, today met the district magistrate and informed him about the way the villagers ostracised them. They told the DM that the villagers have made life difficult for them. "We were forced to shift our three-year-old child to the relatives' house," the couple informed the DM. They also urged Mr Das to provide free passes to them for travelling to Kolkata for treatment. "I will request the state transport authorities to provide free passes to the couple so that they could go to Kolkata by bus for the treatment. They are not in a position to bear the regular travelling expenses," the DM, said. Mr Swapan Mandal, who had been working in New Delhi as a three-wheeler driver, told reporters that he contacted the disease in the capital.It was learnt that in March last year, the Malda doctors found AIDS virus in Mr Mandal and his wife. Fortunately, the couple's son has so far not contacted the disease. Mr Das admitted that in rural belts, the AIDS victims are facing social problems.#