Bhubaneswar: The state government Sunday asked all District Collectors and Municipal Commissioners to keep the homebound migrant workers in closed down schools and hostel buildings.
Principal Secretary, General Administration and Public grievances Sanjeeb Chopra, in a letter to the District Collectors and Municipal Commissioners, asked them to use the closed school and hostel buildings as temporary shelters to accommodate the stranded and homebound migrant workers.
The Collectors and the Municipal Commissioners were also asked to make basic amenities available to these migrant workers till the lockdown period is over and ensure that they maintain the social distance during their stay.
The decision was taken to isolate the homebound migrant workers to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus as thousands of migrant labourers are returning home following the nationwide lockdown.
Meanwhile, the Odisha High court, while taking the issue under PIL jurisdiction, Sunday, directed the state government to give direction to all bordering district Collectors and superintendents of police to arrange for the stay, food and sanitation as well as medical check-up of all such persons in the bordering districts itself.
A division bench of the High Court comprising acting Chief Justice Sanju Panda and Justice Biswanath Rath observed that in the event of a shortage of space, they can take over closed college and school premises having toilets for the purpose.
The arrangement, the court observed, should continue till the lifting of the lockdown.
The court observed that a serious problem is taking place involving the movement of the labourers/working class and their families from the neighbouring states as well as neighbouring districts.
There is no system in place to check if any one of them is already corona-affected or not, the division bench said and remarked that such large-scale movements may aid the spread of corona and making it difficult to attempt such persons at thousands and thousands of destinations.
Stating that providing vehicles to such a large-scale movement is also an uphill task, the court observed that keeping this in view and an attempt to restrict the spread of COVID-19, the movement of such large number of people during lockdown period in the entire nation, the court directed the government to direct all bordering district Collectors and superintendent of police to arrange the migrant workers.
