By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: After successfully convincing the State Government of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu with help of Union Government for safe return of Odia people, Odisha Chief Minister Naaveen Patnaik and Union PNG-Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan roped in on Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal for safe release of Odias from Kerala by special train. If media reports are to be believed, a special train to ferry around 1,000 stranded migrants is likely to run from Kerala to Odisha on Friday, reports said. The train journey is being facilitated by the Indian Railways based on the request of both the governments. The migrants who are being sent back today are reportedly the stranded labourers from Alappuzha district. Only those migrants selected by the government would be allowed to board the train.
The train is scheduled to depart at 6:00 pm on Friday evening from Kochi, reports said, adding that the government has finalised the the first set of migrants from Odisha who would be sent back to their home states. Only the selected migrants are eligible for the special commutation facility arranged today. The destination is said to be Bhubaneswar, the capital of Odisha.
The Naveen Patnaik government in Odisha is expected to either send the migrants into quarantine for 14 days or ask them to self-quarantine at their residences. If the migrants are to be immediately sent back to their native villages, the government is expected to arrange bus facilities from Bhubaneswar.
Earlier , the first train amid lockdown plied from Lingampalli, close to Hyderabad, in Telangana to Hatia in Jharkhand started. The train was ferrying back migrant workers stranded in the state since the imposition of nationwide shutdown. With economic activities closed, the cash-starved migrants were in a desperate bid to return to their native state.
“Special train was run today from Lingampalli (Hyderabad) to Hatia (Jharkhand)on request of Telangana government and as per directions of Railway Ministry. Any other train to be planned as per directions of Ministry of Railways and on request from originating and destination states,” a Railway official said earlier today.
The train services were suspended from March 22, two days before the imposition of a nationwide lockdown by Prime MInister Narendra Modi. Since them, all services of the Railways and the aviation sector remained suspended. The road transport options were also terminated, in accordance to the lockdown guidelines issued by the Centre.
With more number of COVID-19 positive cases in the state are found to have recent travel history to West Bengal, the state Government has called upon people, who have returned from the neighbouring state recently, to come forward voluntarily for testing.The state Health and Family Welfare Department said people with recent travel history to West Bengal should not hide and must come forward for testing, which is free of cost.
“The West Bengal returnees may seem healthy, yet could be infected and also spread infection,” said the department which also advised such people to contact local BDO, Tehsildar or Sarpanch and kept themselves under isolation in their respective houses.
The department further informed that only 15 per cent of the total positive cases in the state had some symptoms at the time of testing while rest 85 % had no symptoms. The H and FW also said persons having flu-like symptoms are advised to dial 104 helpline anytime for medical advice. It is functional round the clock.
