“For over two months, life had become miserable. Our ration and savings had ran out and we are living in most difficult times. Reaching back to our home district is a big relief as at least we can be with the family here”, said Jatteppa Biradar.
He is one of the 1,200 migrant workers of the district who finally returned in a special train on Friday after facing a long ordeal.
Having gone to Sindhudurg district in Maharashtra around four month ago, Biradar (37) said that he along with several other migrant workers of the district were working in a quarry.
“We have ancestral land of five acre in Shivapura village in Muddebihal taluk. Since the land does not gives enough to feed the family of mine and my younger brother, I decided to go to Maharashtra for better living”, he said.
The workers who reached the railway station here said that after being stranded due to lockdown, they had a tough time as they were not given food by the local administration. They somehow managed to survive with the money they had earned.
After the arrival here, the workers were transported back to their respective taluks by the district administration in over 40 KSRTC buses.
As per the government order all those who arrived from Maharashtra have to be send to institutional quarantine, and so all the migrants were dispatched to quarantine facilities in various taluks.
The district administration has identified government hostels and residential school to quarantine these migrants and they were not allowed home quarantine.
The order said only those coming from Goa are permitted for home quarantine, while people returning from any other States such as Maharashtra, Gujarat and Delhi will have to be in institutional quarantine as these States have higher positive cases of COVID-19.
“The workers have been given clear information that they would be sent to institutional quarantine where they will be given basic facilities such as food, shelter and medical help”, said Harsha Shetty, City Corporation Commissioner.
He said that train also brought in workers from other districts such as Yadgir and Kalaburagi. They would be sent to their respective district in special buses.
