By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR/KENDRAPARA: The Naveen Patnaik led BJD Government in Odisha on Monday announced that it has taken steps for the stranded people from the State in different States, particularly in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Telegana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and were mostly hailed from State’s Kendrapara, Balasore, Bhadrak, Ganjam and Jajpur.
“Around 1 lakh people have been stranded in different States, we are in touch with the concerned State Government for necessary steps,” Odisha Chief Secretary, Asit Tripathy, said after chairing a high level meeting. Among others, Home Secretary Sanjeev Chopra, OSD (COVID-19) Vishal Dev and other senior officials were present during the review meeting.
“We have deputed senior IPS officers led by IGP (Operations) Amitabh Thakur while 3 others Rajesh Kumar , Dr Sarthak Sarangi and Awinash Kumar, to monitor the entire Home Department control room,” Tripathy said adding that the State Government has already appointed senior IAS officers as Nodal Officers for different States.
The 20-line call centre has received 1860 calls from Odias stranded in different parts of the country. Prior to setting up of the call centre, the COVID-19 control room had received 830 calls, the Chief Secretary said.
Meanwhile, he informed more than 15,000 people from other States are stranded in Odisha following the lockdown. The Odisha government has made food and accommodation arrangements of the people from other States stuck here, Tripathy said.
As per the Centre’s latest direction, anyone cannot move from one state to another during the lockdown. The government of the State where someone is stranded will bear the expenses of the concerned person’s food and accommodation during the lockdown.
