Dhenkanal: As many as 13 labourers of Naugaon area in Chhattisgarh, who were working at a brick kiln in Kendrapara district, were rescued Monday evening when they were on their way to their native place on foot.
It is not surprising that they reached Dhenkanal from Kendrapara covering the entire distance on foot, but that they reached Dhenkanal walking along National Highway-55 via Salepur, Cuttack despite strict checking due to lockdown is something the baffles one.
When the labourers were spotted and rescued they were walking past College bypass area on the outskirts of the town. They were taken to George Upper Primary School for their staying.
“The rescued labourers are staying at George UP School and the municipality is taking care of them,” informed Dhenkanal municipality executive officer Atanu Kumar Samant and town police station inspector-in-charge Gyanaranjan Samal.
According to the rescued labourers, they had been working at a brick kiln in Kendrapara district. The lockdown rendered them jobless. Left with no money, they had found it very difficult to arrange something to eat. Finally, they had decided to leave Kendrapara and started walking all the way to Chhattisgarh.
“Even as the state government has been continuously claiming that labourers of other states stuck in Odisha due to lockdown are our guest labourers and are being taken care of, how such a picture to the contrary surfaced,” asked some local residents.
PNN