JAJPUR/KENDRAPARA: As many as 23 pilgrims from Jajpur district, stranded in trouble-torn Nepal, were rescued and brought back to India following swift action by the Odisha government on Thursday.
An official statement on Thursday said that 23 people including seven women from Malanandapur panchayat of Jajpur block had gone to visit the famous Pashupatinath temple and some other tourist attractions in Nepal last week. They were stuck in a private hotel in Kathamandu and could not move anywhere in view of the widespread violence and arson following the volatile situation.
After the matter was brought to the notice of the district administration and the state government by families of the stranded pilgrims, the state government swung into action to rescue the stranded pilgrims.
The Directorate of Odisha Paribar under the Odia Language, Literature and Culture department, office of the chief resident commissioner in New Delhi, Ministry of External Affairs, Embassy of India in Kathmandu and Ambassador of India to Romania, Manoj Kumar Mahapatra helped bring back all 23 Odia pilgrims.
In the press release, the government said all 23 stranded Jajpur pilgrims have been brought back from Nepal within five hours of the incident coming to the notice of the government.
Meanwhile, hundreds of migrant plumbers from Kendrapara district and nearby areas continued waiting for trains, buses and flights to return home.
The riverside villages in Pattamundai, Aul, Rajkanika and Rajnagar blocks of the district are known as ‘Villages of Plumbers’ and around 75,000 people of these villages work as plumbers in many states and abroad.
Mamata of Balipatana village said, her husband Babaji Patra, employed as a plumber in a construction company of Kathmandu for the last 10 years, was stranded in the firm for four days due to curfew and unrest. “I spoke to him and he is safe. My husband will return to village soon,” she said.
Kendrapara collector Raghuram R Iyer said, the administration has directed the district labour officer and block development officers and tehsildars to prepare a list of stranded workers. “After getting the report, we will send it to the state government to take necessary steps,” he added.