Purusottampur: Odia migrant workers returning from Surat and Kerala have become a headache for the Ganjam district administration. On the other hand, some of these returnees have alleged that they have not been properly looked after by the authorities.
Locals in Purusottampur block have alleged that instead of being put in quarantine centres, the returnees from Surat are roaming freely.
According to information available a bus from Surat reached here at around 11.00pm in the night Sunday. There were 56 persons in the bus including four children and an identical number of women. The returnees said that there were no administrative officials to receive them.
The occupants who were hungry then came out of the bus in search of food. This development was immediately reported to tehsildar Arun Kumar Nayak by the local people. Locals in the area also expressed their resentment as the Surat returnees moved around freely.
Later, the tehsildar and Purusottampur IIC Jagannath Mallick reached the spot with packets of dry food and drinking water pouches. However, they failed to make any lodging arrangements for the returnees, who remained confined within the bus. They were finally taken early Monday morning to a nearby quarantine centre at Pratappur.
Many other migrant workers also alleged that their buses were detained for several hours on the vicinity of Purusottampur and block administration was not active enough to take the returnees to quarantine centres.
PNN
