BARGARH: An unprecedented chaos broke out at Luhurachati after hundreds of migrant workers crossed over to the border area from Chhattisgarh on foot on Monday.
The flow of migrants to Luhurachati started on wee hours of the day and subsequently, the numbers swelled to around 1,500.
The workers reached the border in vehicles arranged by the Chhattisgarh Government. After reaching Luhurachati, they demanded for immediate arrangement for their onward journey.
The mad rush of migrants also disrupted traffic on National Highway (NH) 53 for a few hours. Sources said a portion of the NH was crowded with migrants who were desperately searching for any means of travel.
Even stamping of the workers could not be carried out at the border for several hours due to the chaos.
Usually, stamping of Odia migrant workers is done at the border and following which they are allowed to go to their home districts. But the process could not be carried out due to the massive rush.
Police said around 1,500 migrants arrived at the border within a short interval. They congregated on the NH demanding vehicles for their travel as a result of which traffic came to a standstill for a few hours. When police tried to clear the road, many workers started walking on the NH to their homes.
Sohela IIC Nirmal Mohapatra said the administration didn’t have any prior information about the arrival of such a large number of migrants.
On an average, around 500 migrant workers reach the border daily and keeping this number in mind, the administration makes adequate arrangement for them.
However, the flow of such a huge of number of migrants on the day within a short span of time took the authorities by surprise.
Mohapatra said majority of the migrant workers were from Ganjam, Balasore, Puri and Khurda districts besides West Bengal.
The district administration arranged 15 buses to ferry the migrants to their home districts in the State. This apart, five buses were arranged to drop the workers of West Bengal at Odisha-WB border, he added.
Sources said by the time the buses were arranged, many migrants had already started their journey to their native places on foot.
Sarpanchs of Pankipali and Sohela panchayats closed all the shops and markets at Luhurachati and Sohela when the buses carrying migrant workers crossed the border areas.