6 migrants paddle 400km from Odisha, Gumla man cycles 1.6k km from T

Jamshedpur/Gumla: Seven migrant workers paddled all their way from two states and arrived at Steel City and Gumla. All of them were put in isolation on Saturday and will be released only after they test negative for Covid-19. Of the seven workers, six are from West Bengal and covered nearly 400km on bicycles, while the Gumla man paddled 1.6km along with several others from Telangana.
In Jamshedpur, six Bengal migrants covered the distance on three bicycles in five days to reach Steel City on Saturday morning from Sambalpur in Odisha where they used to work as contract labourers with the railways. Soon after East Singhbhum district authorities came to know about the incident, they informed the health department, which in turn took their samples and said they will be allowed to proceed to Bengal only after they get a clean chit from health officials concerned.
Initially, the workers, Rinku Mandal, Pota Mandal, Rivu Mardi, Shibu Mardi, Dilu Mandal and Kanhu Mandal, all in their late 20s, began their journey home at Belpahari in Jhargram district of West Bengal, along with 150 other co-workers, on foot after they could not sustain themselves financially. Their work stopped owing to the lockdown and their contractor refused to give them any payment, food or shelter.
Shibu told TOI that they were left at the mercy of self-help groups, which occasionally provided them with food and water, once their employer abandoned them. Pota said they tried to get in touch with the district officials in Bengal, but they were asked to wait in Odisha till further instructions. Left with no option, they decided to walk towards their home, the workers said.
After crossing nearly three railway stations in Odisha on foot, Rinku and his five co-workers went to a nearby village and bought three bicycles, each worth Rs 4,000, with the money they had saved. They then paddled on highways to reach the Jharkhand border late on Friday, Rinku said. On Saturday morning, TOI spotted the six men wandering through the city streets and took them to a police check-post near Keenan stadium where the cops offered them glucose water and food.
In a similar incident in Gumla, Manoj Oraon (29), a tribal migrant of Cheda village in Bishunpur block of Gumla, returned to his native place on Friday night after cycling 1,600km from Samshabad in Telangana. On Saturday, he was put in a quarantine centre as a precautionary measure.
Even though at least three special trains from Telangana brought around 4,000 migrants back to Jharkhand in the last seven days, many continue to undertake the journey back home on foot or bicycles on their own, unaware of ways to enrol with the respective district administrations for return. When asked why didn’t they approach the government which is running special trains, Oraon said, “We got to know about the special trains, but by that time, we had already left.
Oraon said that he, along with 13 other labourers from Latehar district, had gone to Telangana in January this year to work in a construction company. He added, “However, the work stopped due to the lockdown in March and gradually it became difficult to sustain. As our problems increased, we decided to return on bicycle after several pleas to the state and the local administrations there went unheard.”
He further said that he, along with four others from Latehar and Daltonganj districts, bought bicycles and left for Jharkhand on April 17 by following Google Maps. He added, “We used to cook food with whatever items we brought with us and take rest at passenger sheds on the road.”
Upon his arrival on Friday, Bishunpur block pramukh Ramprasad Baraik coordinated with the local authorities to keep him in a government centre, Shram-Nikeran, of Vikas Bharti.