Thakurmunda: Panic gripped residents of Khasakudar and Talapada villages under Thakurmunda block in Mayurbhanj district Thursday as labourers belonging to the two localities returned. They were working as daily wage earners in other districts. A similar situation was witnessed in neighbouring Kumudabahali village under Saharpada block in Keonjhar district.
Approximately 67 labourers returned to their respective homes in the three villages. They returned from Dhenkanal, Jajpur and Bhadrak districts. Villagers were particularly apprehensive about those who had returned from Bhadrak and Jajpur districts. These two districts have turned out to be COVID-19 hotspots.
The labourers returned to their respective homes by foot having walked for more than three days. Sarpanchs of the villages have asked the returnees to go under home- quarantine for 14 days.
Prior to the implementation of the lockdown, these returnees were working. While 21 of them were engaged in road construction work in Dhenkanal’s Bhuban area, 40 were working as farmhands in Jajpur district’s Kuakhia locality. The six other labourers were engaged in construction work in Bhadrak district.
The daily wage earners lost their source of income once the lockdown was implemented. They somehow managed to survive for 41 days before deciding to return to their respective villages by foot.
Notably, Mayurbhanj district, which had been in ‘Green Zone’ till Thursday, reported four coronavirus positive cases Thursday. Three cases emerged in the morning and one in the afternoon. The district has been declared an ‘Orange Zone’.
PNN