BHUBANESWAR : Nearly 50 per cent of the workers from Ganjam working in Surat in Gujarat, which will be around two lakh, have returned to the district during the last one month before the lockdown restrictions came into force in the State.
However, the State government is yet to come up with any action plan to deal with the situation though affairs have not turned so grim. Sushant Kumar Rout of Prabasi Odia, an organisation in Surat, said many of the Surat workers had left for their villages in Ganjam for celebration of Danda Nacha and marriage functions. Some of them had also left for their home apprehending they will be stuck in Surat like last year if a national lockdown is announced, he added.
Rout, however, said the situation in Surat has not turned so problematic as power looms are still running. Those who have stayed back are not facing any problem so far, he said and added that though the textile market is not open due to restrictions, production is going on and the products are being stored.
He said the situation may turn difficult in future if the Covid situation does not improve in the country. “Those of us who have stayed back cannot now return home due to the lockdown in Odisha. We are hoping that things will improve in the coming days,” he said.