House control room to help stranded Odias

TNN | Updated: Apr 22, 2020, 14:16 IST

BHUBANESWAR: To reach out to the distressed migrant workers and others who are stuck in various states due to the lockdown, the Odisha assembly will set up a control room to receive the list of such people from the MLAs and MPs and extend all possible help to those stranded outside.
The development came following the advice of Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla, who on Tuesday held a videoconference with the speakers of all legislative assemblies across the country to discuss the Covid-19 situation in the country.
“As advised by the Lok Sabha speaker, the control room at the Odisha legislative assembly will start functioning from tomorrow. All MPs and MLAs are requested to submit the list and details of distressed migrant workers, students and others, who are stranded in different states. We will send the list to the Lok Sabha speaker and also the speaker of states concerned to reach out to such people at this time of crisis,” said assembly speaker Surya Narayan Patro after emerging out of the videoconferencing.
Patro said even as the state government has set up a control room and appointed nodal officers to help the people stranded in various states in coordination with the local administrations, reports said many such stranded people are not even able to get access to basic needs.
Though the state government has no concrete information on number of Odia people stuck in various states due to the lockdown restrictions, unconfirmed sources said the number could be around 5 lakh.
Maximum Odia people are stranded in states like Gujarat, Delhi NCR, Maharashtra, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala.
The assembly speaker has also directed to take stringent action against those chewing paan, supari and gutkha in public utility areas and working areas of the state assembly. Patro said any assembly employee found drunk during duty hours will be sacked.
Based on Covid-19 regulations of the state government, assembly secretary Dasarathy Satpathy has issued an order strictly prohibiting spitting in public utility areas and premises of state assembly and other areas. Spitting is a punishable offence and fine up to Rs 500 can be imposed on violators, said Satpathy.