The Odisha government on Sunday said it would send buses to Maharashtra and Gujarat to bring back stranded migrant workers.
The decision was taken following two separate discussions through video-conferencing between Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and his counterparts Uddhav Thackeray and Vijay Rupani.
Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan participated in both the discussions.
There will be one coordination committee each for the two States.
As of now, the buses will be mainly used for workers in the two States while the decision on using other modes of transport would be taken at a later stage.
Odisha allows workers’ movement in State
Mr. Patnaik urged both the CMs to arrange for dignified and safe return of the workers. The guideline issued by Odisha says registration is mandatory for all those who wish to come back to their native places. They will be sent to quarantine facility immediately upon their arrival.
While Mr. Thackeray assured to waive the road tax on the buses, similar requests will be made to the Madhya Pradesh and the Chhattisgarh governments, said Mr. Patnaik in a statement.
The Odisha government has started registration of inbound migrant workers from April 24. It is expecting 5 lakhs workers from States. However, as per State Panchayati Raj Secretary D.K. Singh, the number could be around 7.5 lakh.
The State government has created 2 lakh-bed capacity quarantine facilities in around 7,000 panchayats. It will gradually scale it up to 5 lakh.
The State’s positive case count has crossed 100 following the detection of nine new cases in Jajpur and Sundargarh districts. Of the 103 positive cases, 67 are active cases, 35 have been discharged and one is reported dead.
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