Odisha official mocks women migrant workers as they request change in quarantine centre

This comes a day after another official in Odisha was seen misbehaving and insulting a group of migrant workers who had returned from Gujarat.

A Block Development Officer (BDO) in Odisha allegedly abused the migrant workers arriving in the state from Surat in Gujarat.

Migrants workers walk along the national highway for their native places, during the nationwide lockdown, in Bhubaneswar on May 12. (ANI Photo)

Some women migrant labourers of Banarpal block in Angul district had reached Bhubaneswar by train from Surat on Wednesday morning. They were taken to a government quarantine centre at Barapada Primary School in Chhendipada block of the district in the afternoon.

As the women migrant workers belonged to Banarpal block, they requested Chhendipada BDO Sunil Kumar Kerketa over phone to make arrangements for their stay at a quarantine centre in their own block. But Kerketa told them to either stay put there or leave for their village on foot.

“I did not bring you to the quarantine centre. If you want to stay in the centre you can, or you can walk to your home,” the BDO is heard saying in the audio clip that has now gone viral.

This comes a day after another BDO in Odisha was seen misbehaving and insulting a group of migrant workers who had returned from Gujarat.

Baliapal BDO Chhabirani Sahoo hurled abuses at the migrant workers and even flaunted her position when the migrant workers asked for water. A video of the incident was widely shared on social media.