Odisha sends back 1500 migrants to their home states
Bhubaneswar: The state government has so far sent back around 1,500 migrant workers stranded in different temporary shelters to their home states by bus.
Most of the labourers are from Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
Labour commissioner N Thirumala Naik has been designated as the state nodal officer to facilitate movement of migrant workers to their home states.
Nearly 90,000 migrant workers from different states and districts within the state, who were stranded due to the lockdown, were provided shelter in temporary camps.
“After the state government allowed inter-state movement of migrants, nearly 43,000 workers have moved to their worksites. For others, who want to go back to their states, we have been allowing them in coordination with authorities of their home states,” said an official in the state labour department.
The state government has prepared a standard operating procedure to send back these migrant workers. The stranded migrant workers, who want to travel back have been asked to contact the Shramik Sahayata helpline number (18003456703) or WhatsApp (7008110717).
All collectors and municipal commissioners have been asked to obtain prior approval of their counterparts from recipient states before departure of any bus carrying the migrant workers from their districts. The collectors and municipal commissioners have been authorised to issue transit passes for road journey by bus or vans.
For easier logistics, the state government has asked them to divide the returnees in groups according to their districts and blocks while boarding buses/vans. Screening of all the migrant workers is a mandatory exercise before allowing them to go to their home states.
The state government on Wednesday increased food expenses of migrant workers from different states living in different temporary camps from Rs 60 a day to Rs 120. Special relief commissioner P K Jena has written to all collectors in this regard.