These Migrant Odisha Workers Could Never Re-Unite With Their Families

Berhampur: This homecoming was not meant to be for Chittaranjan Sethy and Santosh, who were on the bus ferrying migrant workers back to Odisha from Surat on Saturday.

Chittanjan, 45, called his mother happily from the bus saying he would be back home in a few hours. He told her that they would meet after he completes the 14-day quarantine period in the isolation centre at Buguda town.

Chittaranjan was working in a spinning mill in Surat for the last 17 years. His wife, two teenaged sons and three-year-old daughter used to live with his father-in-law at Baradipalli near Buguda town.

His daughter fell severely ill last year. He exhausted all his savings and even took a loan for her treatment but she did not survive. This time, Chittranjan took both his sons along when he went back to Surat so that they could earn more.

His sons and he boarded the bus on April 30. Post lunch on Saturday, he and another passenger, Santosh Sethy started discussing about the pandemic and how it affected their lives but how, in hindsight they were glad to be getting back home. about their lives. With their mills shut, thousands of other natives of Ganjam who had come to Gujarat had lost their livelihood. 

Santosh, 35, was the sole breadwinner of his family and was a father to two small children.

Both the men were sitting in the front in the bus, when it swerved to one side of the road along Kalinga Ghat after the driver lost control. The vehicle hit the side wall and under the impact, broken splinters from glass panes pierced the bodies of both Chittaranjan and Santosh. While Chittaranjan was thrown out of the bus, a broken iron rod pierced Santosh.

Although firefighters and police reached the spot to rescue the passengers, both Chittaranjan and Santosh died. 

A pall of gloom descended on Buguda when their bodies reached for cremation on Sunday. 

Polasara MLA Srikant Sahu and others consoled the bereaved families. They gave Rs 5,000 to each to the two families. Sahu assured the families that he would put up their case for financial assistance before the Government.