55,000 returned to state in 10 days

Bhubaneswar: Over 55,000 people including migrant workers, students, professionals and those on pilgrimage have returned to Odisha in the past 10 days after the Centre allowed the interstate movement of migrants. Almost all of them have been put in institutional quarantine facilities.
According to official figures, about 23,700 people returned to the state in Shramik Special trains run by the Centre, while over 25,000 workers came back in buses.This apart, altogether 6,000 persons returned through other modes of transport.
About 70% of them came back from Covid hotspots like Surat in Gujarat with most headed to quarantine centres in Ganjam, the district with the highest (89) positive cases so far. Other districts such as Kendrapada, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur and Balangir have also recorded the maximum return of migrants in the past one week.
Subrato Bagchi, the state’s chief spokesperson for Covid-19 management, said, “Despite the increase in the number of positive cases after the return of the migrants, especially in Ganjam, the state government has adopted a very balanced approach on their return from different states.” He added that the decision has been taken keeping in mind the humanitarian, legal and practical aspects. Around 92% of the migrants are working in the unorganised sector. Bagchi said the state government has made arrangements for the returnees in all 6,798 gram panchayats where they have been kept in quarantine for 21 days.