Bhubaneswar: Hundreds of Odia workers, who had been trapped in the devastating floods in Kerala, returned home safely in a special train arranged by the state government with the help of the railways, Tuesday evening .
The train headed for West Bengal had left Kerala Sunday. Besides Odia passengers, the train brought back stranded people of north Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. After alighting on the platform, the flood victims were welcomed by their teary-eyed families. The workers generously thanked the authorities for their support and shared their personal stories from the flood-ravaged state.
“We were stranded without food and water for several days. It was worse than the 1999 Super Cyclone in Odisha. It was one of the worst experiences of my life. We saw only water everywhere with our belongings and even houses floating,” said a labourer from Ganjam district who had left Odisha four months back in search of work.
Purnachandra Sethy, another labourer, said, the hardships that we faced are unexplainable. The future of hundreds of workers is in dark as education certificates have been washed away. My legs have swollen as we were marooned for days. Reaching Odisha was also another ordeal as there was no train. Ashok Uthansingh, who was employed in a hotel said, “Water inundated my workplace and I had to take shelter at a relief camp. I was not able to understand the language but somehow I managed for a few days with only `200.”
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