Odisha: Migrants travel on trailer truck packed with tractors to reach home amid lockdown

Amid the fourth phase of the nationwide lockdown induced to contain the spread of coronavirus infection, about 200 migrant workers were seen traveling in a trailer truck packed with tractors on National Highway-16 in Cuttack. The migrants were traveling from different parts of the country to their respective states, flouting the social distancing norms.

During the journey, most of the migrants were seated on the tractors, while some were seen lying beneath them. Narrating their plight one of the migrants said they faced a lot of problems because of the lockdown and had to survive on water as there was no food.

READ | Sonu Sood helps Odisha migrants: CM Naveen Patnaik, Neha Dhupia praise actor's initiative

"We work at a hotel in Maharashtra and we have faced a lot of problems due to the lockdown, we didn't get anything to eat and were surviving on water. The truck driver is not charging us for the ride," said the migrant. 

READ | Odisha preps for singing state song at 5.30 pm to show solidarity with Covid warriors

Another migrant worker who was on his way to Ranchi in Jharkhand said, "I'm coming from Bengaluru, and the company I work at is closed for the past two months. Traveling like this can be dangerous, but we have to go home. The truck driver is taking us for free, and we got food on the way."

The workers could be seen wearing face masks as a precautionary measure against COVID-19 even as they defied the social distancing norms.

READ | 7 hurt as bus carrying migrants from Kerala to Bengal overturns in Odisha

COVID-19 Cases in Odisha

As many as 96 more people tested positive for COVID-19 in Odisha on Saturday, taking the state's tally to 1,819, a health department official said. The fresh cases were reported from 18 districts and the new patients had returned from worst-hit states and were placed under institutional quarantine, he said.

Of the new cases, 10 each were reported from Kendrapara and Gajapati districts, nine from Khurda, seven each from Bhadrak, Bolangir and Sundergarh, six each from Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Ganjam and Jajpur, five from Kalahandi, four each from Deogarh, Nuapada and Balasore, two from Dhenkanal and one each from Puri, Nayagarh and Keonjhar.

The number of active cases now stands at 833 while 977 patients have recovered. Seven people have died of the disease, the official said. The state has so far tested 1,47,490 samples, of which 3,920 were tested on Friday, he said. The districts which have reported more than 100 COVID-19 cases are Ganjam (404), Jajpur (259), Balasore (146), Khurda (122) and Bhadrak (131).

READ | Odisha govt announces exemption of road tax for passenger buses for three months

(With inputs from agency)