VELLORE: As many as 123 vehicles, including ambulances, have returned to Vellore district after being stranded for days in Odisha and other states, while returning after dropping patients from CMC Hospital, said district collector A Shanmuga Sundaram.
Most of the vehicles and their crew were blocked at a border check post in Balasore in Odisha after they dropped patients in West Bengal as the authorities denied them permission to move back.
Following an outcry from the stranded crew, the Vellore district collector took up the matter with officials in Odisha through the Tamil Nadu government.
Vellore DMK MP DM Kathir Anand also brought the issue to the notice of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Subsequently, the Odisha government issued clearance for the vehicles to move back on Saturday. Several other vehicles stuck in other states like Bihar and Jharkhand also returned.
“132 samples were taken yesterday from those who returned and they tested negative,” Shanmuga Sundaram said, adding that the results of the remaining persons are awaited.
All the drivers will be kept under home quarantine for 14 days, he said.
He informed that 47 vehicles were released on Sunday from the toll plaza in Balasore following the intervention of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and officials of government departments.
The collector lauded the efforts of Tamil Nadu cadre IAS officers serving in Odisha -- Balakrishnan (retired), Karthikeya Pandiyan (secretary Odisha CM), Mathivathanan, Chitra Arumugam and Keerthivasan -- for facilitating the release of the stranded vehicles and crew.