JAGATSINGHPUR: Migrant labourers on Tuesday staged a dharna outside the Raghunathpur block office demanding cooked food. They alleged that although State Government had directed the district administration to provide cooked food to destitute, migrant labourers, daily wagers and the needy during the lockdown, it is not being served in several panchayats under the Raghunathpur block.
At least 50 labourers belonging to West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, were working at construction sites and selling fruits and vegetables in the block. After the lockdown was imposed, they could not return to their homes. The labourers said whatever grocery they had will be exhausted within a few days and if Government does not help them, they would starve.
The agitation was called off after BDO in-charge of Raghunathpur, Ashok Kumar Mohanty assured to provide them cooked food. Another group of 40 migrants of Madhya Pradesh including 18 children is stranded in Jagastinghpur town. They had come to the town a year back for selling utensils and other wares. “Although we are managing with whatever we have, we need food for our children urgently. We cannot buy biscuits, bread or milk for them as all shops are closed”, said a labourer Puram Pardhi of Damoh district in Madhya Pradesh. The labourers have put up in a camp at Somnath haat in the town.