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The | Bhubaneswar |
Posted: May 8, 2020 4:50:58 AM
Five trains with migrant workers from Surat to Odisha have been canceled on Friday.
The Orissa Superior Court said Thursday that only those immigrants who test negative for COVID-19 should enter the state, forcing the state government to immediately cancel the permission granted to other states, including Gujarat, to transport stranded workers by train. .
A bank of judges S Panda and KR Mohapatra, while listening to a petition on the return of the migrants, said: “The state government must ensure that all migrants queuing to come to Odisha receive a negative COVID result. -19 before boarding transport. “
The order is expected to disrupt the return of thousands of migrants, some of whom are headed to the state. Five trains with migrant workers from Surat to Odisha have been canceled on Friday.
Surat District Collector Dhaval Patel said: “We received information from Odisha government officials that they have canceled the NOC (Certificate of No Objection). According to the High Court orders, all passengers must have a negative result and then must be sent to Odisha. It is impossible for the local administration to carry out medical tests on such a large number of passengers. “
Patel said more than 500 people are being tested for coronavirus in Surat. With 799 cases like Thursday, Surat is an access point and has the second highest number of cases in Gujarat.
According to the Odisha Department of Information and Public Relations, the Ganjam district saw an increase in coronavirus cases after 17 people who returned from Surat tested positive. Odisha’s coronavirus count reached 219 on Thursday night.
Almost three lakh workers, mostly from the Ganjam district of Odisha, work in diamond and textile cutting units in Gujarat’s Surat. They began to return to Odisha after the Center allowed the movement of migrant workers during the ongoing blockade. The first train from Surat to Odisha was marked on May 2, and 16 trains departed for Odisha from Surat with 19,200 people.
The sudden cancellation of the trains has put people in limbo who had packed their bags for the return trip home, after the blockade closed revenue and transportation links.
Odia leader and former BJP councilor from the Sachin area of Surat, Bhagirath Behra, said: “There are thousands of Odia people staying in Surat and they will face problems. There are many people who stay in a rented house in Surat and have collected the deposit from the house owners. The people of Odia will be forced into the streets. The situation is critical “.
The city of Surat has seen four incidents of violence since the first phase of closure in March, when immigrants took to the streets demanding transportation back home and better food.
Odisha’s attorney general, Ashok Parija, did not respond to a request for comment on whether the state plans to appeal the order.
According to the Odisha government, 4,225 immigrants from different states arrived in Odisha on Thursday, and a total of 49,765 since May 3. The state expects at least 5 lakh people to return.
Any migrant who wishes to enter the state must register on a government portal. Upon arrival, they are taken to a quarantine center in their hometown where they have to spend 14 days. There have been reports of riots throughout this process, with some migrants returning from buses and walking home to avoid quarantine.
In addition to Ganjam, three districts: Jajpur, Bhadrak, and Balasore, and the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) area in Khurda, are classified as red zones. There are 10 orange zones and 14 green zones in the state.
(With ENS Gujarat tickets)
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