Six workers who were returning home from Maharashtra by covering more than 670 km on bicycles were intercepted near Hallibayalu-Halugudde checkpost in Sorab taluk on Tuesday and were quarantined at the designated hospital in Shivamogga city.
Of the six workers, three hail from Sagar taluk, two from Hosanagar taluk and one is from Sorab taluk. Police said they were engaged in jewellery making work in Thane and Mumbai.
Owing to enforcement of lockdown, they were stranded in the places where they were working. In the wake of non-availability of permission to return to their native places, they had decided to return on bicycle. Police said they had commenced their journey on five bicycles from Thane on May 2. They succeeded in sneaking into the Karnataka border through interior roads. Acting on a tipoff, police intercepted them near Hallibayalu-Halugudde checkpost.
The staff of Department of Health and Family Welfare who came to the spot in an ambulance subjected them to preliminary medical tests there and took them to Shivamogga. Their swab samples have been sent to the laboratory for tests.
Meanwhile, police have stopped nine workers who were returning to their native places in Uttar Pradesh on bicycles near Anavatti village in Sorab taluk. They had come to Hosanagar taluk to work as construction labourers and had remained stranded there owing to lockdown. As they didn't have permission to return to their native places, police have sent them back to Hosanagar.
