BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha government on Saturday allowed intra-state movement of stranded labourers, who have completed their 14-day quarantine period in view of COVID-19, to move back to their respective workplaces and resume their jobs.
As per the state government's Revenue and Disaster Management, the stranded labourers, who wish to travel within the state for work, are allowed to move and work in an organised manner. In its order, the revenue department has issued some operational guidelines such as:
1) Industries or agencies labour contractors will be allowed to transport their labourers in dedicated and designated buses from camps to the workplace within Odisha, maintaining social distancing and other relevant safety protocols prescribed by the government.
2) Such industries agencies contractors will report the details of such labourers, destinations and buses to the concerned district collector, through the district labour officer. The concerned district collectors will issue movement pass to such contractors for the purpose.
3) In such cases where the stranded labourers do not belong to any particular industry or agency contractor the concerned block development officers/district level officers shall bring it to the notice of the district collector, who will make arrangements for such labourers to travel to the destination of their work in groups.
4) Since these stranded labourers have already completed the recommended quarantine period of 14 days in their respective camps, the recipient local authorities shall not insist upon further quarantine of such arriving labourers, to facilitate their immediate joining of the workforce.
5) A high-level committee chaired by APC-cum-ACS with PS Labour and ESI and PS Commerce and Transport as members will review and monitor the movement on a daily basis.
In Odisha, around 16,000 workers were accommodated in 2,610 quarantine camps to combat the spread of coronavirus.