Chhatrapur: A total of 5,503 Odia workers who were stranded in Surat and Kerala have so far reached Ganjam.
Sources said, 1,324 and 4,179 returnees reached Ganjam by trains Sunday and Monday, respectively. Ernakulam-Khurda Road Special train with 1,161 Odia migrants on board, reached Jagannathpur junction station at 5am Monday.
Of these 1,161 passengers were from 19 districts, while 626 were from Ganjam alone. After their screening at the station, they were sent in 41 buses to their respective destinations.
Similarly, 1,188 people who were stranded in Surat reached the district by train at 12.40pm Monday. Of them, 173 hailed from Beguniapada, 63 from Buguda, 336 from Dharakote, 54 from Jagannathprasad, 162 from Kabisuryanagar, 54 from Khallikote, 61 from Kukudakhandi, 177 from Polasara and 54 each from Purusottampur and Sanakhemundi.
After screening, they were sent to the quarantine centres set up in their respective areas by bus.
Again a train with 1,243 passengers on board reached Jagannathpur junction station at 4.28pm Monday. Among them, 1,165 passengers were from Ganjam district alone.
Of the 1,165 returnees, 51 were from Aska, 187 from Beguniapada, 42 from Belaguntha, 12 from Bhanjanagar, 51 from Buguda, nine from Chhatrapur, 13 from Chikiti, 79 from Dharakote, 11 from Digapahandi, 21 from Ganjam, 20 from Hinjli, 18 from Jagannathprasad, 112 from Kabisuryanagar, 210 from Khalikote, 14 from Kukudakhandi, 24 from Patrapur, 75 from Polasara, 120 from Purusottampur, 19 from Rangeilunda, 23 from Sanakhemundi, 26 from Shergarh and 28 were from Sorada blocks. A total of 38 buses ferried them to their respective areas.
The train that arrived at 8.35pm carried 1,200 returnees to the district. However, the block wise figures of these returnees were not available at the time of filing this report. All the returnees were given masks and food packets.
Three trains with more returnees are on way to the district and they are expected to reach Tuesday.
The district administration has set up 12 screening centres where thermal screening of the returnees is being carried out. Each centre has a seven-member team including a doctor.
Collector Vijay Amruta Kulange, superintendent of police Brijesh Kumar Rai, DRDA project director Siddharth Shankar Swain, Berhampur Municipal Corporation commissioner Chakraborty Singh Rathore, Berhampur sub-collector Sinde Dattatreya Bhausaheb, Chhatrapur sub-collector Priya Ranjan Prusty along with RPF, GRPF and police personnel were present at the station to receive the returnees and monitor the situation.
PNN