Bhubaneswar: The state government Wednesday said that more than 2 lakh people who were stranded in different parts of the country have now returned to Odisha after the partial relaxation of lockdown norms was allowed.
The Information and Public Relations (I&PR) department said that 2,03,220 Odias have returned to their state till now. “A total of 11,295 people from Odisha have returned to the state Wednesday. A total of 2,03,220 Odias have so far returned to Odisha. The returnees are coming by trains, buses and other vehicles,” a statement from I&PR department said.
The department also said that a Shramik Express train was sent from Sambalpur to Kanpur carrying 1,068 adult migrants and 50 children hailing from Uttar Pradesh who were stranded in Odisha due to the lockdown. These migrants were assembled from 17 districts of Odisha.
“Collectors of 17 districts – Kalahandi, Sundargargh, Bargarh, Nabarangpur, Malkangiri, Nayagarh, Kandhamal, Sonepur, Bolangir, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Boudh, Keonjhar and others – had mobilised all these workers by arranging 30 buses to Sambalpur,” a statement from the department said.
The government meanwhile claimed that they have come up with nearly 7 lakh beds in more than 15,000 quarantine centres. “15,867 quarantine centres have been readied in 6,798 gram panchayats of the state. In all these Centres, altogether 6,97,356 beds have been arranged to provide Covid-19 health services in rural areas,” the department said.
The government claimed that it facilitated the safe and hassle-free return of more than 25,000 stranded migrant workers to their home states. “During their stay due care was taken and at the time of return they were provided with food packets and water bottles. The buses used for their return were sanitised properly,” the department said.
Statistics from the government claim that it has a total of 26 Covid Hospitals comprising 4,470 beds and 221 ventilators and 2,786 beds with oxygen supply. The government also claims to have a total of seven dedicated Covid care centres with 926 beds.
The government has meanwhile recorded 12 new cases of violation of Covid-19 rules. Ten of them are related to violation of lockdown rules, one relates to violation of home quarantine and one for other issues. Altogether 38 people have been arrested by the police too for different violations.