NUAPADA: Prior to the arrival of monsoon, a large number of villagers who had migrated to other states to work in brick-kilns have started returning to the district. On Tuesday, 119 migrant labourers returned to Nuapada and were sent for home isolation in their respective villages by the district administration.
Earlier in the morning, a bus carrying 69 migrant labourers from Uttar Pradesh dropped them off near Khariar Road border. Of them, five labourers belong to one family from Chhattisgarh and the rest are from villages under Nuapada Sadar block.
All the migrants were tested for Covid-19 through rapid antigen test kits. Nuapada Tehsildar Debendra Rout said, since one member of the Chhattisgarh family tested positive, all five were sent back to the neighboring state. The remaining 64 migrants were tested negative and sent back to their villages in autorickshaws and buses.
At around 2 am on Tuesday, another bus carrying migrants from Telangana reached Sinapali with 48 labourers. BDO Sadashiv Naik said the labourers were accommodated at the cluster TMC in Sinapali and tested. All of them were found negative and sent to their villages.
“We have a 100-bed Covid Care Centre (CCC) ready at the Sinapali College to admit any person found positive”, the BDO said. This apart, two persons reached the district from Maharashtra after changing multiple vehicles. All the returnees have been asked to undergo home isolation for a period of 14 days.