Fresh Challenge For Odisha Govt With Migrant Workers Arriving Via Sea Amid COVID-19 Lockdown

Puri: Migrant Odia workers returning to the state via the sea route is something that the Odisha government perhaps had not factored in while making bus and train arrangements.

The arrival of 16 Odia migrants at Puri coast in a motor boat from Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday set the alarm bells ringing, especially in view of the recent spurt in corona positive cases in the state. 

While 10 of the workers alighted at Chandrabhaga beach in Konark, the rest six got down at Pentakota beach in Puri. All the workers were taken to quarantine centres after their arrival. 

This is the fifth boat to have arrived with migrant workers. The last one had come on May 11, while the first such case was reported on April 19, when 10 Odia labourers, who were stranded in Chennai, bought a boat to reach Odisha. They teamed up with 17 people of Andhra Pradesh and bought a boat worth Rs 1.7 lakh along with fuel.

However, the Andhra Pradesh police, on getting information, detained the labourers in Ichhapuram of Srikakulam district and placed them in quarantine. The labourers are residents of Sunapur village in Odisha’s Ganjam district.

Most of these workers were stranded in Chennai, Andhra Pradesh and places in West Bengal. In all of these cases, they are driven by desperation to reach home after the people they worked for expressed their inability to pay them wages. 

They are ignorant of the risk involved vis a vis travelling by road or train and endure the rough sea for several days with minimum supplies of food and water. Since they travel in cramped boats, the question of social distancing does not arise. Also, they do not register themselves upon return, putting locals at risk of contracting COVID-19. 

When the first boat arrived, the coast guard and the marine police were taken unawares and had no system in place to keep a check on these misadventures. Now, security has been tightened along Odisha’s 484-km coast to keep an eye on such movements. Patrolling has been intensified by the Coast Guards, the marine police and other agencies, Odisha Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy said.

How did they navigate?

They used the GPS in their mobile phones to keep track of the route and also watched the stars. They also had the Indian tricolour flying from a pole on their boat in case they ran into a Coast Guard ship.

April 28: A fishing boat with 33 migrant workers from Chennai reached Aryapalli on the Ganjam district coast.

April 27: A motor boat carrying 25 workers from Chennai reached Rameyapatna in Ganjam district.

April 25: 38 workers reached the fishing jetty at Pattisunupur in Chikiti block of Ganjam district aboard a fishing boat. They had pooled in Rs 2 lakh from their savings to purchase the boat.

April 19: 17 workers reached Ganjam from Chennai on a fishing boat. 

May 11: A fishing boat carrying 42 migrant workers from Chennai reached Ganjam district.

Also Read: Lockdown 2.0: Stranded Odia Labourers In Chennai Buy Boat To Reach Odisha 

Also Read: Lockdown 3.0: 16 Odisha Fishermen Arrive At Chandrabhaga From Visakhapatnam

Also Read: Odisha Govt Orders Probe Into Return Of Migrant Fishermen From Chennai By Boat