‘Around 1 lakh from Odisha stuck in other states due to COVID-19 lockdown’

Bhubaneswar: As many as one lakh people from Odisha have been stranded in different parts of the country due to a nationwide lockdown, a containment measure taken by the Centre to prevent spread of deadly coronavirus (COVID-19). This was informed by Odisha Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy today after a review meeting at the call centre set up at the COVID-19 control room in Lok Seva Bhawan here.

The 20-line call centre has received 1860 calls from Odias stranded in different parts of the country. Prior to setting up of the call centre, the COVID-19 control room had received 830 calls, the Chief Secretary said.

He further said the call centre has been receiving maximum calls from Odias stranded in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Gujarat and Maharashtra states.

Tripathy elaborated mainly people from Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Ganjam and Jajpur districts have been stuck in other states.

Meanwhile, he informed more than 15,000 people from other States are stranded in Odisha following the lockdown. The Odisha government has made food and accommodation arrangements of the people from other States stuck here, Tripathy said.

As per the Centre’s latest direction, anyone cannot move from one state to another during the lockdown. The government of the State where someone is stranded will bear the expenses of the concerned person’s food and accommodation during the lockdown.

Among others, Home Secretary Sanjeev Chopra, OSD (COVID-19) Vishal Dev and other senior officials were present during the review meeting.