Berhampur: Migrant Odia labourers working in Surat returned to their homes in Ganjam district to vote for the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections scheduled for April 11, courtesy the railway tickets provided by the political parties.
Hundreds of labourers from Surat alighted from the Ahmedabad-Puri express train at Berhampur railway station Monday and Tuesday.
The labourers after their arrival left for their villages by boarding buses from the town.
Observers said that Surat is home to over 10 lakh Odias working in various establishments and textile mills in the industrial city. Out of them seven lakh Odias are from Ganjam district with many of them hailing from Aska.
The observers said that the Odias of Ganjam usually return home in the first week of April to attend the Danda festival which is a mass festival in the district. This time they are returning also for the elections.
Their homecoming was facilitated after the leaders of the political parties established contacts with the Prabasi Odia Sangathan (Odia Residents Association) in Surat. The political party leaders even made arrangements for their homecoming by providing them tickets for to and fro travel.
The migrants after casting their votes will return back to Surat. The BJP and BJD are keen to tap the large chunk of Odia voters of Ganjam living in Surat. Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Gujurat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani met the Ganjam voters in Surat at Parav Odisha function September 2, last year. Both the leaders even announced a slew of measures to attract the Ganjam voters towards the BJP.
The ruling BJD also organised a function and met the Odias living in Surat in September last year. There the BJD delegation even tried to rope in the Odias in the party’s labour outfit Biju Sramika Samukhya. Later, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and several ministers visited Surat and met the Odias at the Odisha Mahotsav function December 12.
PNN