Starving Odia Migrant Labourers Leave Chhattisgarh Amid COVID-19 Lockdown

Balangir: Twelve migrant labourers of Balangir district on Monday crossed the Chhattisgarh border and reached a village in Odisha’s Bargarh district on their cycles.

Talking to mediapersons after arriving at Lakhamara village, the migrant labourers of Sabun Badi, Chaulia and Bakagura villages in Bongomunda and Sindheikela blocks said they had gone to Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh to work as daily-wage labourers. But they lost their jobs as the Centre announced a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Finding no other way to return, the hapless labourers requested the local people to urge their government to provide them with food and shelter but to no avail.

After exhausting their hard-earned money, they left Bilaspur on their cycle on Sunday early morning and entered the Odisha border after reaching Lakhamara village in Bargarh in the afternoon.

“We will cover the remaining distance and reach our village on Tuesday,” one of the labourers said.