In Odisha, 12 migrant workers set an example; stay put in self-quarantine
Subroto Bagchi, chief spokesperson for Covid-19 (health) on Thursday said to prevent any secondary transmission of the Covid-19 virus, gram panchayats and zilla parishad authorities have been asked to detect and ensure 14-day home quarantine for these migrant workers.
When Bhajaman Nayak of Kumbharapipiliguda village in Kalahandi district boarded the Alappuzha-Dhanbad Express from Thrissur in Kerala on March 21 along with 11 others including his brother Harikanta, little did he know of the hardships that awaited him. Nayak, who works in a firecrackers factory of Thrissur since 2012, was packed off by the owner of the factory as coronavirus positive cases started being reported in the state.
“Though our district had not reported any positive cases, my factory owner asked us to go back to Odisha. Luckily we could hop onto the train and found a berth before all train movements were stopped. We reached Kesinga railway station of Kalahandi and took an auto-rickshaw to the government hospital in Jaypatna for a medical check-up. Though we did not show any symptoms, the doctor said we had better go on quarantine,” Bhajaman, who was among the 84000-odd migrant workers who returned to the state in the last few days, said.
Subroto Bagchi, chief spokesperson for Covid-19 (health) on Thursday said to prevent any secondary transmission of the Covid-19 virus, gram panchayats and zilla parishad authorities have been asked to detect and ensure 14-day home quarantine for these migrant workers. He said the state government has created isolation centres at the level of gram panchayats having a bed capacity of 7,276.
But on March 22, Bhajaman and others realised they were in trouble after discovering that there is no quarantine facility available either in the local hospital or their panchayat. Someone in the group suggested that they stay at least 200 metres away from habitation.
On March 22, the 12 including Bhajaman pitched a tent near the paddy field and stayed there for 2 days after which they shifted to a school building near the village. “When we stayed in the tent we were scared of getting bitten by snakes at night as there have been cases of snakebites. So we shifted to a school building, but we faced problems with cooking. It was cumbersome for our families to carry food from homes to the school building,” Bhajaaman said.
So on Thursday, all the 12 moved to their homes, but confined themselves to a room and continued to maintain social distance with their family. “I have not studied beyond Class 6. But all I know that the disease is fatal and there is no cure as yet. So we thought why not maintain a safe distance from our family members. After all, we are going out of our homes for them,” said Harikanta, who has a son and a daughter.
Ashok Patnaik, who works in a local NGO in Kalahandi, said that the 12 workers who have returned from Kerala have shown much wisdom despite having little formal education. “While more than hundred people who had returned to Odisha from abroad are under the scanner for violating home quarantine conditions, these 12 have shown exemplary behaviour,” he said.
The Odisha government has so far lodged 14 cases against people defying home quarantine conditions.
Nayak and others from Kalahandi are maintaining social distance after reaching their village, but over 200 people from Bolangir and Nuapara districts of the state are stuck at a brick kiln in Shamshabad area of Telangana and Thiruvallur of Tamil Nadu. Dayasagar of Aide-at-Action, an NGO working for migrant workers in Odisha, said that the families working in big brick kilns could not return as train movements were stopped. “At least 30 per cent of them are children and need milk and food. As the shops are closed, they are unable to buy ration. Besides, the brick kiln owners are making them work at night when there is little police inspection,” he said.
Odisha labour commissioner Tirumala Nayak said in 2019-20, at least 1.35 lakh labourers from Odisha had gone to other states for working after registering their names with local labour offices under the Inter-State Migrant Workman’s Act. But sources said the number of people who have gone to other states for working in spinning mills and other factories may be much higher.
