Residents panic as migrant labourer returns from Bagalkot

MANGALURU: Panic spread in the thickly populated area of Urwa in Mangaluru after the return of a migrant labourer from Bagalkot on Friday night.
A native of Bagalkot, the man lives in Urwa with his wife and two children and works as a construction labourer. He had left for Bagalkot on some work in March before the lockdown was announced and got stuck there due to the ongoing lockdown.He finally managed to return on Friday in a truck from Bagalkot.
However, his quiet arrival on Friday evening to the tiny rented house with a single room created a furore among residents who insisted that he should be quarantined and tested for Covid19. Moreover, there is only one toilet for two families in the building.
Immediately after his arrival, residents alerted people’s representatives. BJP ward committee president Arun Kumar told STOI: “After reaching the city, he directly went to his house without informing authorities. Residents started calling me and other local leaders to express their fear. They were worried because the man had not undergone a medical check-up after his return from Bagalkot.”
In his defence, the man informed authorities that he was unable to undergo a test since he arrived in the city after 5pm on Friday, Kumar said. “We informed police and district administration. He slept in the premises of a private college in the area on Friday night and was shifted to District Wenlock Hospital for medical check-up on Saturday,” Kumar said.