Lockdown: After 90-km walk, hitch-hiking 1,300km, five Odisha youths reach home in six days

BHUBANESWAR: Ranjit Mallick, 31, with his four friends started walking from Chennai to their home in Odisha on May 13 morning. Lack of job, shortage of ration and fear of Covid-19 infection compelled them to take this decision. They covered 90km by foot and took lifts to travel 1,300km to reach their native place on May 18.
This correspondent spotted Ranjit and his friends standing under a tree near PN College, Khurda, on Monday noon. Wearing a brown colour shorts and a striped T-shirt with a cap on, he was discussing with friends about getting lift from any truck driver.
“We hardly got Rs 15,000 as monthly wage. We spent our savings by purchasing ration and food during the lockdown period. Our parents were asking us to return home. Though we tried to get tickets for travelling in Shramik Special trains, we could not figure out how to do it. So we decided to walk back to our native place in Jajpur district,” said Ranjit while adjusting his torn slipper.
They decided to take only essentials with them, leaving other belongings behind to make their backpacks lighter. After taking some clothes, shawls and important documents, they started walking from Mangadu main road in Chennai and reached Tada in Andhra Pradesh on May 15 morning. They took two days to cover the 80-km stretch. They walked eight hours a day on an average.
“I saw many people were walking with us. Most of them from West Bengal, Odisha and Bihar. Some people were cycling back to their native places. Due to heatwave during daytime, we were walking during evening and morning time. People were getting fainted and dehydrated while walking,” said Ranjit, an arts graduate, who moved to Chennai to work in construction sector.
Another member of the group, Srikant Sethi, a native of Bari in Jajpur district, said a truck driver helped them to reach Vijayawada. “We again walked for a few kilometres and found another truck for Visakhapatnam. He took Rs 1,000 for the ride. We then asked other truck drivers there and one of them helped us reach Odisha border,” he added.
He said they again walked for 5km and got another vehicle which took them to Khurda on Monday morning. “Except one truck driver, others did not ask for any money from us. We are thankful to the people who gave food and water on our way,” said Sethi, who works as a construction labourer with Rs 500 wage per day.
Another member of the group, Raja Mallick, from Ratnagiri in Jajpur district, said they walked around 90km during their journey. “We got a pickup van at Khurda and reached Acharya Vihar in Bhubaneswar on Monday. Later we started walking and stopped by police at Rasulgarh. They took us to a transit home at Rasulgarh and gave us food,” he told over phone.
“When our panchayat people did not arrange any vehicle, we hired a vehicle at the transit home with whatever money we had and arrived at Chhatia quarantine centre crossing the last 50km of our around 1,300-km journey from Chennai,” said Ranjit.
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