Odisha's Sundargarh district Omicron plan needs focus on migrants
ROURKELA: Amid heightened concerns over the Omicron variant of coronavirus, the next fortnight is going to be crucial for tribal-dominated Sundargarh district as thousands of migrant workers are slated to return home for Christmas and New Year celebrations.
Pressing the alert button, a section of health officials said the complex demography of the district coupled with lack of a clear-cut strategy and mechanism to track migrant workers, vaccine hesitancy in certain rural pockets, habitual violation of Covid-19 protocols and absence of enforcement are factors that may lead to a crisis since ICMR has already warned of a third wave.
For the tribal migrant workforce, this time of the year is important. Come what may they return to their families for celebrating Christmas. The district conservatively has around three lakh Catholic and one lakh protestant Christians.
In fact, the twin celebration at rural pockets is unique as the rural masses get into the festive mood ahead of Christmas and the celebrations continue till the first week of January with community feasts, carol, group dance and other activities organised at villages.
The Health & Family Welfare (H&FW) department is only focusing on surveillance of people returning from foreign countries, sources said. There is literally no watch on thousands of inbound tribal and non-tribal migrants from across the country with a sizeable number from Gujarat, Delhi, Maharasthra, Kerala, Goa, Tamil Nadu and other states from where Omicron cases are being reported on a daily basis. Most of the female migrants work as domestic help and lowly-paid factory workers, while males are in fishing, construction and factory jobs.
Besides, despite repeated insistence on adherence to Covid-19 protocol by top government authorities, enforcement in the district has vanished with the deadly second wave receding from across the country.
Sundargarh chief district medical and public health officer Dr SK Mishra said ANMs and ASHA workers have been asked to keep track of migrants and measures are being put in place for RT-PCR testing of the workers by rapid response teams.
He said the administration would be urged for integrated action to ensure strict adherence to safety protocols during the celebrations. With no SOP to check migrants, Dr Mishra said the best they can do is to conduct tests twice on arrival and after eight days.
However, he admitted that there is no mechanism to restrict migrants from meeting people within that eight day window. Sundargarh unit president of All India Christian Council Prof Bijay Toppo said all churches of the district would follow government guidelines and appealed the rural masses to avoid congregation.
Alarm bells
- Christmas is the most important festival for tribals in the district
- There is no watch on thousands of inbound migrants
- As of now, the district administration is focusing only on foreign returnees