BERHAMPUR: The four buses carrying 228 Odia migrant workers stranded in Surat have arrived in Ganjam.
The workers, mostly engaged in spinning mills of Surat, were scheduled to reach Haladiapadar bus terminal by Wednesday noon. However, the buses arrived late in the evening via Phulbani. Each buses carried 57 workers.
Ganjam SP Brijesh Roy and other district officials received the buses after their entry into the district limits and brought them to Bhanjanagar amid tight security.
After screening, the migrant workers were taken to quarantine centres set up at Adarsha Vidyalayas in Dharakote and Seragada. Each centre is housing 114 workers.
Sources said the returnees underwent medical examination in presence of district officials. While 15 returnees of Dharakote centre were detected with flu and mild fever, another seven at Seragada were found with similar symptoms.
All of them were sent to MKCGMCH in four Covid ambulances for tests. Their swab samples were collected and they were sent back to their respective quarantine centres. CDMO Dr Uma Mishra said two teams reached the centres on Thursday to collect swabs of all the returnees. Besides, sub-collectors of Bhanjanagar and Chhatrapur also visited the centres on the day.
Collector Vijay Amruta Kulange said the returnees will stay in quarantine for 14 days. No one except Health and administrative officials are allowed near the centres. The migrants have been warned against coming out of the centres. Strict action will be taken against those found violating the directive, he said.
The State Government will bear the expenses of their food, accommodation, medicine and healthcare needs and once the quarantine period ends, each worker will be given an incentive of `2,000.
A nodal officer, one health worker, pharmacist, two ASHA workers, four cooks, 10 volunteers and five members of SHG have been deployed at each of the quarantine centres. Both the centres have been barricaded. Meanwhile, more buses carrying Odia migrant workers from Gujarat are expected to arrive in Ganjam in next couple of days. However, the district administration has no details about them.