No Homebound Migrant Allowed To Travel On Foot, Transportation Arranged From CMRF: Odisha DGP

Bhubaneswar: Odisha DGP Abhay on Friday said that no homebound migrant is allowed to travel on foot within the Odisha boundaries.

“Once they reach one of 12 notified checkpoints in the state, arrangements are made for their transportation and food using money from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund,” he said.

This is being done as per the direction of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, he said.

This arrangement has been made at Girisola, Kereda and Sohela, which have so far received maximum natives from other states including West Bengal and Jharkhand. “They mostly use Odisha as a transit point and once they are inside our border, we ensure transportation for them,” he said, elaborating further on the routes in which they are sent back home.

The DGP urged migrant workers from other states walking through Odisha to approach the nearest police station. “Arrangement will be made to drop them at the nearest destination point along the state border. If they have to go to Ranchi, they will dropped along Odisha-Jharkhand border,” he said.

He further said that Odisha police is in overall charge of these border check points, where staff from Transport and Health department are also deployed.

“A total of 1349 buses carrying migrants have so far entered the state since relaxation in the inter-state movement for their repatriation. Over 500 of these buses have passed through Girisola checkpoint in Ganjam district and Sohela in Bargarh district,” he said.

More than 4,000 four-wheelers have entered the state through these checkpoints with around 1000 of these via Laxmannath alone, he added.

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So far 1,15,390 people, stranded in other states amid COVID-19 lockdown, have returned to Odisha with 15,360 of them on Friday alone, government sources said.