Migrants stranded in Maharashtra risk their lives to reach Odisha

Nuapada: While Odisha Government is bringing registered stranded migrants back to the state and subsequently keeping them in institutional quarantine to contain spread of deadly coronavirus,  it is seen that several others are risking their lives by opting for other means of transport on their own to reach their hometowns in the state.

Reportedly, around 80 migrant labourers from Nagpur and Mumbai of Maharashtra were walking back to their hometowns in Balangir district last night with all bus and train services remaining suspended due to the nationwide  COVID-19 lockdown.

Midway, they took lift from two goods trucks and sat on the top of the vehicles putting their lives at risk. The migrants are residents of Khaprakhol, Bangomunda blocks in Balangir district, sources said.

Flouting the lockdown norms, the migrants are returning to the state on their own putting their lives and of others at risk.

Meanwhile,  six labourers who were returning to Jharkhand from Andhra Pradesh on bicycles were spotted in Bhubaneswar this morning.  The labourers were engaged in construction of a national highway in Andhra Pradesh and decided to return to their hometown in Ranchi after the contractor did not give their payment.