Odisha: Five cycle 1600-km from Chennai to reach Ganjam village

Hrusikesh Mohanty | TNN | Updated: Apr 22, 2020, 14:08 IST

BERHAMPUR: Five migrant workers returned to Bhaliagada village, their native place, in Ganjam’s Rangeilunda block from Chennai on Monday evening after cycling for over 1600 km in eight days.
M.Mahesh (19), M.Biswanath (23), A Dilleshu (20), D.Balaji (19) and D.Prakash (21) have been kept under institutional quarantine (the village school building) for two weeks by the district administration, said block development officer (Rangeilunda) K Nagabhusan. Their health was examined on Tuesday.
“We were working at a construction site. When lockdown was imposed, we bought second hand bicycles for Rs 1,600 to Rs 1,800 each along with a pump and started our journey on April 12,” said Biswanath.
The migrant labourers used to cycle from 6 am to midnight covering 80 to 90 km every day on National Highway-16 with little rest. “We used to rest by the roadside at night,” said Dilleshu.
They ate the food being distributed by volunteers. The labourers were detained by police for two days at Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh. “The migrants were well aware of the Covid-19 restrictions and asked the sarpanch N.Sujata Reddy to be tested upon their arrival in the village,” Damburu Reddy, former zilla parishad member.