Migrant workers returning to Odisha from various affected states are posing a big challenge to the State Government as it scrambles to contain spread of coronavirus.
With the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh (AP) border sealed after the AP Government announced a lockdown on Sunday, a group of Odia labourers working at Visakhapatnam had to walk for 14 km from Konawalsa in AP to Pottangi to reach home as no vehicles were allowed to ply by police.
After reaching there on Monday morning, they took an autorickshaw to Semiliguda and then Kotpad. But none of the eight labourers were screened for coronavirus symptoms either at Sunki, Pottangi, Semiliguda or Kotpad.
Koraput chief district medical officer (CDMO) Makaranda Beuria informed that in the last 14 days, 1659 persons have been kept on observation and 1514 home quarantined. In the same period, 39 foreigners arrived in the district.
As many as 15 locals returned to Koraput from other countries. On Monday, 408 persons including migrant workers were asked to go for home quarantine and 103 of them are from Boipariguda block.
Among them, eight persons were found having coronavirus-like symptoms and admitted to isolation ward of district headquarters hospital in Jeypore, the CDMO added.
On the other hand, at least 2,000 migrant workers returned to Ganjam from Surat, Mumbai and Pune by trains on Sunday.
The labourers were screened at different railway stations and except four of them, the rest were sent to their villages in 40 buses arranged by the district administration.
Till Sunday, 346 people were quarantined in the district. Collector Vijay Amruta Kulange said of the 2,000 migrant labourers who returned from COVID-19 affected states, four labourers suspected of suffering from the disease were admitted to isolation ward of MKCG MCH on Sunday. Two of them tested negative and were released from hospital on Monday. Blood and swab sample tests of two others is awaited.
Over six lakh people of Ganjam migrated to Surat, Maharastra, Telangana, Kerala and Karnataka last year to work as labourers. In the last fortnight, at least 5,000 migrant workers have returned.
Sambalpur district, too, is witnessing a homecoming of a large number of skilled labourers. As many as 1623 labourers have returned to Balangir in the last four days and they were provided ration of four months by the local administration.
All the labourers were screened at railway stations and bus stands. In Athagarh sub-division, over 300 migrant workers have returned to their villages in the last four days. Two persons suspected to have been affected by coronavirus have been sent to SCB Medical College and Hospital for tests, informed SDMO Bijay Kumar Mishra.
Amid lockdown
Eight labourers of Kotpad block in Koraput walk from Konawalsa in Andhra Pradesh to Pottangi to reach home
2000 migrant workers returned from Surat, Mumbai and Pune to Ganjam district on Sunday. 2 admitted to MKCG MCH isolation ward
300 labourers return to Athagarh, some violate the quarantine guidelines
1623 labourers come back to Balangir in last four days