Naveen, Rupani discuss safe return of Odia migrants
Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday discussed with his Gujarat counterpart Vijay Rupani the safe return of Odia migrants stuck in the western state amid lockdown.
The Odisha government has decided to bring back stranded Odia migrant workers from Gujarat.
A discussion was held between the two Chief Ministers through videoconferencing on Sunday. Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan attended the videoconferencing from New Delhi.
Two senior officials from each state would be part of a committee to chalk out the details of the transport, likely by buses. Other mediums of transport will also be part of this discussion, said a statement from the Chief Minister’s Office.
It was also decided that Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh governments would be requested to waive the road tax for the buses for the transportation of the migrant labourers from Gujarat.
Notably, the state government has made mandatory registration of all migrants willing to return to Odisha. The government has developed a portal for the purpose.
After their return, they will have to stay in quarantine for a period of 14 days.
Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 cases in Odisha reached 103 as three more persons tested positive for the virus, informed Health Department on Sunday.
The three persons are from Sundargarh district.
With this, the number of active cases in the state touched 68 while 34 persons have recovered so far.
