Large numbers of migrant workers are continuing to reach Odisha's Ganjam district by special trains and buses, while incidents of unruly scenes at quarantine centres are also being reported.
On Monday, over 2,800 persons got down from three special trains that reached the Jagannathpur Railway Station on the outskirts of Berhampur. In the morning, a train from Kerala, on its way to Khurda Road, reached Jagannathpur, and 606 persons got down from it. At 12.40 p.m., a special train from Gujarat’s Surat reached Jagannathpur with 1,188 migrant workers of Ganjam district. Another batch of over 1,100 migrant workers returned by a train that arrived in the evening.
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All returnees underwent medical check-ups at the Jagannathpur Railway Station. They were then transported by buses to their respective panchayats for a 14-day quarantine. More trains with migrant workers are expected to reach Ganjam district in the next few days.
Apart from the trains, hundreds of migrant workers from Surat are continuing to reach Ganjam district by buses. They, too, are being sent for quarantine. Swabs of persons with symptoms are being sent for coronavirus (COVID-19) tests.
Thirty-nine students stranded in Rajasthan’s Kota also reached Berhampur in two vehicles on Monday afternoon. According to the Berhampur Municipal Corporation, they have all be ordered to remain in 14-day home quarantine.
Workers protest
On Monday, unruly scenes were reported from a quarantine centre at Gokarnapur in Digapahandi block of Ganjam district. Around 210 returned migrant workers quarantined here complained of lack of beds, and adequate arrangements for water and toilets, and held a protest. They refused to take their breakfast. The local tehisldar and Block Development Officer (BDO) rushed to the spot to pacify them, and they were persuaded to take their food.
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With complaints about the food provided coming from several quarantine centres in the district, Ganjam District Rural Development Agency on Monday declared a weekly breakfast, lunch, afternoon tiffin and dinner menu for people in institutional quarantine.
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