After three days and 2000 km by bus, 228 from Surat finally home
BERHAMPUR: Without food for three days, 228 migrant workers stranded in Surat, Gujarat, arrived in their home state in four buses on Wednesday.
The labourers, all from Ganjam district, were provided dry food by police personnel in Sonepur. “We have neither bathed nor taken any food during our over 2,000-km journey. We only drank the water fetched from a canal on the route,” Nilaachal Rout, 35, of Badagarh.
The migrants had hired four buses in Surat and paid Rs 3,500 per head to return home amid the Covid-19 outbreak. They left around 5.30 pm on April 29. “Though we took permission from the Surat administration before leaving, police deployed at the Maharashtra border detained us for two to three hours. They allowed us to leave after much request,” said Jaga Swain of Sorada.
The migrants said they have decided not to go home but stay at the quarantine centres set up by the district administration. “We have decided on it for the safety of the families, villagers and the district. We will abide by all instructions of the administration,” they said.
Collector (Ganjam) Vijay Amruta Kulange said the workers would be placed in institutional quarantine for two weeks. Almost all of them were workers in the textile mills of Surat. “With savings dwindling as all textile mills stopped operations due to the lockdown, we decided to leave the place. We were also very scared of contracting Covid-19 infection with the number of cases increasing in Gujarat,” said Rout.
“We drew the attention of the Gujarat and Odisha government to our plight but in vain. Then we decided to leave Surat by making our own arrangements,” said Rout.
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