BHUBANESWAR: For 24-year-old migrant worker Sumanta Juanga from Rangamatia village in Keonjhar, the struggle did not end with the ammonia gas leak at a seafood processing unit in Tamil Nadu.
With his wife Sima undergoing treatment at a Chennai hospital, he alleged that he was forcibly sent back to Odisha from a relief camp despite repeatedly requesting permission to stay by her side.
Sima has been admitted to the hospital for the past six days following the gas leak on Sunday. Sumanta alleged that during his stay at the relief camp, he was allowed to meet her only once, on the first day. Thereafter, until Thursday night, he was reportedly not permitted to step outside the camp.
On Friday morning, Sumanta and several other migrant workers from Keonjhar were boarded on a train and sent back to Odisha. “I was paid Rs 8,000 and sent back. I repeatedly requested the officials at the camp to allow me to stay, but they didn’t listen. I have been sent home while my wife is battling for her life in the hospital. They have not even updated me about her health condition,” Sumanta told TNIE over the phone from the train.
He further alleged that even after boarding the train, he requested officials to let him get down at Sullurupeta so that he could return to Chennai and be with his wife, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. “Some officials from Odisha are accompanying us on the train. I am clueless about what I will do now,” he said.
However,Sumanta is not the only one. Several workers alleged that despite official assurances that those wishing to stay back with their hospitalised family members or relatives would be allowed to do so, they were forcibly put on trains and sent back to their home states.https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil-nadu/2026/Jun/26/ammonia-gas-leak-survivors-want-to-stay-back-relief-camp-doubles-up-as-hiring-venue
Although Tiruvallur authorities had assured on Tuesday that workers who wished to remain in Tamil Nadu would be permitted to do so, some labourers alleged that officials at the relief camp ignored their requests.
Another migrant worker from Keonjhar said his cousin, who was affected in the gas leak, died at one of the hospitals. He claimed he came to know about her death only on Thursday night.
“There was an identity mismatch. She was working under the name of another woman from our village, while her name in her Aadhaar card was different. I wanted to stay back to verify whether it was her body, but they didn’t listen and forced me to leave,” the worker alleged while speaking to this paper over the phone.
The workers said that while some Labour department officials at the camp supported their requests to stay, others refused to consider their appeals.
Tiruvallur collector S Kavitha could not be reached for comment. Meanwhile, a woman official accompanying the workers, who identified herself as an officer of the Odisha Labour department, told TNIE over the phone that the workers were being taken back to their native places because there were no facilities to accommodate them near the hospitals.
“Our priority was to bring them back home safely. Their family members and relatives undergoing treatment will also be brought back safely after they recover,” she said.
Meanwhile, sources said the death toll among Odia workers in the mishap has risen to 11 following the deaths of three more migrant workers from Keonjhar. Officials said the bodies are being brought back after verification of identity and completion of other formalities.
