COVID-19 Lockdown: Odisha Youths Stranded In Other States Seek Govt’s Help

Bhubaneswar: The 21-day nationwide lockdown imposed by the central government has left many Odisha youths stranded in different parts of the country.

The helpless youths have made videos to seek help from the Odisha government for assisting them during the crisis.

In one video, a group of youth from Cuttack’s Salepur town, currently stranded in Nagpur, requested CM Naveen Patnaik to help them return home as train services have been cancelled because of the lockdown.

In the viral video, one of the youths said, “We are stuck in Nagpur and don’t have enough money to survive the 21-day lockdown, as ordered by the government. Therefore, we request our Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to help us return home safely.”

In another video, a group of people from Odisha, stranded in Hyderabad, sought the government’s help as the company they were working with there has shut down its operations and now they are left with no money to survive.

In the video, one of the youths said, “Now that the lockdown has been extended, we don’t have enough food or money. Due to the coronavirus scare, the police and locals are thrashing us if we step out. We want to return home but the transport facilities have been cancelled due to the lockdown. We request the Odisha government to help us get back to our homes.”

In a third incident, youths from Bargarh and Sambalpur districts, who had travelled to Pratapgarh to attend a wedding, are now stranded in Lucknow as the return train services have been cancelled due to the lockdown.

They are now putting up in a small hotel near the Lucknow Railway Station and are running short of money. They are surviving merely on biscuits and breads.

The stranded youth in Lucknow have been identified as Dusmant Mishra, Gyana Dev Bag and Ananta Narayan Behera of Dhanupali locality and Dusmant Mohapatra of Redhakhol locality in Sambalpur town and Sanjay Bhoi of Bargarh.

Seeing the plight of the people from Odisha, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has written to the CMs of all the states to assist them.