Open border raises coronavirus concern in Odisha
According to reports, as many as 300 Jharkhand labourers have been sent to isolation centre in the last 20 days after they reached Jamsola check gate.
Published: 21st April 2020 10:28 AM | Last Updated: 21st April 2020 10:28 AM | A+A A-
Barricades erected at Andhra Pradesh-Odisha border at Bandhugam to check entry of migrants into Koraput district (File Photo | EPS)
BARIPADA: AMID concerns of three positive COVID-19 cases in neighbouring Balasore, Mayurbhanj district’s open borders has raised concern among locals.Vehicles carrying people from West Bengal to Baripada and other areas in the district and vice-versa can be seen throughout the day, in violation of the lockdown norms.
On Monday, several four-wheelers with West Bengal registration numbers were seen parked outside a private nursing home at Baripada town. Sources said while policing is strict during early morning and night hours, police personnel take a break for a few hours from 11 am and this is when vehicles from the neighbouring state enter the district through NH-18 near Baisinga police station.
Most of the vehicles either carry labourers or patients to different nursing homes here. Not just West Bengal, the district’s border with Balasore, Keonjhar besides, Jharkhand and Bihar has not been shut properly and there is little vigil on the entry and exit points.
According to reports, as many as 300 Jharkhand labourers have been sent to isolation centre in the last 20 days after they reached Jamsola check gate here to cross Odisha-Jharkhand border. On Saturday, 42 persons of West Bengal and Jharkhand who were working as labourers in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu were detained while trying to cross Jamsola check gate.
They came in trucks and pickup vans carrying essentials and vegetables. Locals alleged that migrant workers are able to reach Jamsola gate as other border points in the district are open with little security.Mayurbhanj SP, Parmar Smit Parshottamdas, however, refuted the allegation and said there has been no laxity in security arrangements at district border.
Meanwhile, three wards under Dharampur panchayat in Nilagiri sub-division of Balasore district were declared containment zones after a two-year-old girl child tested Covid-19 positive. The girl was living with her six-member family in Dharampur. Two days back, the district administration had declared Niliabag area under Balasore municipality as containment zone after a 58-year-old man was found to be coronavirus positive.
