300 migrant workers from Jharkhand & UP detained in Odisha

Rourkela: About 300 migrant labourers from Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh, who were engaged in different projects in Sambalpur, Jharsuguda and Sundargarh districts, were detained by the officials of the Sundargarh district administration while crossing the Odisha-Jharkhand border on Monday.

Left without any work amid the lockdown and with all vehicular movement suspended, walking back to their native place was the only choice they had. They were on their way to Jharkhand via Biramitrapur when police detained them. The district administration is reportedly making arrangements to send them back to their places of work so that they can stay their till the lockdown is lifted.

Sources said panic gripped the migrant workers when they suddenly found themselves with no work following the Centre’s lockdown order. With a complete shutdown of all modes of communication, they attempted to walk down to their villages with their family in tow.

The sources said following chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s directive that no one would be allowed to either leave or enter the state, the officials were keeping a strict vigil on suspicious movement along the state border. After intercepting the 300 migrant workers at the Biramitrapur border, they offered them some snacks and cooked food. However, the migrant workers were disappointed with the fact that they could not go home and dreaded going back to their workplace. “We should be allowed to go back to our native place as we have no work here and no money to feed ourselves,” Sima Mahato, the wife of a migrant worker, said.

However, Biswajeet Mohapatra, the subcollector of Panposh, said, “We are trying to make arrangements at their respective workplaces so that they can stay there without any problem,” Significantly, about 50 migrant workers were detained on Sunday while moving towards the Jharkhand border and have been kept in the Kuanrmunda area. They are being provided with cooked food.