Naveen wants curbs on air and train travel to stay

BHUBANESWAR: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday sought continuation of curbs on train and air travel to Odisha till the end of the month, stating that June could be the toughest month for the state in view of the return of large number of migrants and the onset of monsoon.
Raising the issue during a video-conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the chief minister also urged the Centre to take steps to bring back stranded Odias from Gulf countries.He also suggested that the all-India level entrance examinations should be conducted only after the pending higher secondary (Plus-II) examinations are over in Odisha.
The demand to continue restrictions on train and air travel is to regulate the inflow of people to the state from different parts of the country. The state government has already stated that June will be crucial and has announced steps like weekend shutdown and continuation of night curfew from 7 pm even as the total number of Covid cases reached 4,338 on Wednesday.
Apart from Shramik Special Trains run by the railways carrying migrants, only 10 pairs of inter-state special trains are currently passing through the states for general passengers against 100 pairs that operate during normal time.
Similarly, only one-fourth of the flights are being operated from Biju Patnaik International Airport to cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Against operation of 44 flights during normal times, only 12 flights are being operated from the city airports since May 25.
While official figures said over 5.56 lakh Odia people (mostly migrants) have returned to the state since May 3, the number is expected to touch around seven lakh by the end of June. Even as four flights have landed in Bhubaneswar from Saudi Arabia, Sharjah, Oman and Dubai carrying stranded Odias, most of them engaged as blue-collar workers, Naveen has demanded more direct flights to ensure smooth return of people from the state. Thousands of workers from Kendrapada, Ganjam, Khurda, Jajpur and Bhadrak are engaged in Gulf countries.
As state council of higher secondary education (CHSE) is yet to conduct higher secondary (Plus-II) examinations of all three streams – science, commerce and arts – due to lockdown restrictions, Naveen also suggested that the all-India level entrance examinations like NEET, JEE and CLAT should be conducted only after the pending Plus-II examinations are over in the state. The CHSE has postponed all Plus-II examinations scheduled after March 23 due to lockdown restrictions over Covid pandemic. In science stream, biology papers were left while in arts, subjects like economics, sociology and statistics were not conducted. Similarly, in commerce, exams for cost accounting and business management papers are yet to be conducted. The fresh dates for examinations are yet to be issued by the CHSE.