Bhubaneswar: Director General of Police (DGP) Abhay, Friday, said that no migrant heading towards their home during lockdown should walk on roads in the state and assured that the government will provide all possible support to them.
The top cop said that the state government has decided to use the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF) to provide food and transportation facilities to all the migrants who are using roads to reach their homes.
“We have been directed by the CM that no person after arrival till the check post should walk on the roads. The state will bear the expenses for their food and transportation through CMRF. Some of them are residents of Odisha and want to head to their homes inside the state while others are using the state as a transit route. We are helping both of them,” Abhay said.
“We are arranging food and buses for them. All those who are walking on roads to reach their homes are requested to visit the nearest police station. The police will arrange transport for them and drop them to their nearest point close to Odisha border,” he said.
The DGP said that the state has notified 12 routes for entry of persons from other states. “We have border check posts having health personnel and other officials to scrutinise the incoming vehicles and people. Altogether 4,372 four-wheelers carrying stranded migrants have passed through these checkposts till now,” he said.
The DGP said that people walking on roads in Cuttack and Khurda districts can also seek assistance from the government. The statement from the government came at a time when many stories of hardships faced by the government are coming to the fore regularly from across the country.
Due to lack of transport services to their homes and money, many poor migrants are heading to their native places via roads or cycles and other modes of transport.
Several of them are also said to be stranded due to lack of food and health issues. Special Relief Commissioner Pradeep Kumar Jena Friday announced that special buses will be deployed to ferry the stranded migrants in the state.