Anganwadi worker who helped keep her village COVID-free to be feted

When hundreds of migrants from her village in Madhya Pradesh’s Sheopur district returned during lockdown, Nazira Khan, an Anganwadi worker, ensured that they followed quarantine and those who were sick got treatment.
Her family thought it was dangerous work and wanted her to quit, but she did not budge. Now the National Commission for Women would be felicitating her as a `COVID Woman Warrior” in New Delhi on January 31.
Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani will felicitate Khan during a ceremony on the NCW’s foundation day, a Madhya Pradesh public relations department official said on Friday.
Khan, resident of Hiragaon in Sheopur district, works at the local Anganwadi (government-run child care centre).
Nearly a thousand persons from the village who worked in big cities returned when lockdown for coronavirus came into effect, she told reporters.
It was necessary to quarantine them for the safety of the entire village, she said.
With the help of the village sarpanch, she ensured that those who had returned from cities were properly quarantined and those who were sick got treatment and medicines.
Her family feared that she would catch the infection and wanted her to quit. Khan herself suffered a bout of dengue during this period, the official said.
But her husband supported her and she did not quit her job.
“Because of her efforts, today the entire village is free from coronavirus,” the official said.