MALKANGIRI: Days of ordeal finally came to an end for the Odia couple stranded in Goa as they reached their home at Chitrakonda in the district on Friday morning. Mithun Sarkar (31), his eight-month pregnant wife Sarita and their one and a half year old son were stuck in Goa due to the Covid lockdown and unable to return home due to financial constraints. After their plight was highlighted by TNIE and some other media houses, Bhubaneswar-based Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) came forward to ensure their safe return home.
District unit coordinator of KISS Amiya Ranjan Parida said Pranya Birla, a social activist in Goa, helped in conducting Covid tests on the couple and booking their flight tickets. The couple landed at Visakhapatnam at 10 pm on Thursday. A vehicle arranged by another social worker Vinod Tawari picked them up from the airport and dropped them at KISS office in Malkangiri town around 3 am.
The couple with their baby took rest at the office before being dropped at their place in Chitrakonda in the morning by a vehicle arranged by KISS. Parida said the documents and passes for safe passage of the couple were processed with the help of Malkangiri district administration and sent to Goa. Happiness was writ large on Mithun’s face as he got a chance to travel by flight along with his pregnant wife and kid, he added. Rendered jobless and without any money, Mithun of Kalimela town and his family were struggling to survive in Goa.
The couple had moved to Goa in February. He was hired as a security guard by a private company for a monthly salary of `13,500 in March. However, the company paid him some day’s salary and stopped paying him thereafter forcing him to leave. With the Covid restrictions worsening their plight, the couple in a last-ditched effort sought help from Odisha government for his return. Following publication of a report in TNIE about the couple’s misery, the State Government stepped in to ensure that the pending dues of Mithun amounting to `9,379 was cleared and the couple returned home.