Homes still out of bounds for migrant labourers

JEYPORE:  Even after undertaking an arduous journey to reach home and completing institutional quarantine of 14 days, the problems of migrant labourers in Koraput seem to be far from over. With the district administration not conducting Covid-19 tests of all returnees lodged at temporary medical centres (TMCs), most of them are unable to return home. Discriminated by locals, they are being denied entry into villages if they do not produce their Covid-19 test report.

And at many other places, migrants are battling stigma with villagers suspecting that they may be potential carriers of coronavirus. Over 20 migrant labourers of Chatua and Khinibir panchayat under Nandapur block were lodged in a TMC at Chatua after they returned from other states last month. They completed 14-day quarantine on Sunday and were allowed to go home by health officials. However, when they reached their villages locals refused to allow them in till they showed their Covid-19 test reports. When the labourers told them that their tests have not been conducted by health staff, villagers directed them to return to the TMC.

Helpless, the labourers had no other option but to go back to the Chatua centre where they demanded the staff to conduct their coronavirus test at the earliest. As they cannot stay in the TMC after the quarantine period, the labourers have taken shelter under the open sky and abandoned public buildings. Similar allegations have been made by migrants in Potangi, Nandapur, Laxmiput, Semiliguda and Kotpad blocks. Meanwhile, swab testing has been going on at a snail’s pace with the Health department collecting just 250 samples in a day and sending it to RMRC at Bhubaneswar for test.

Since March, over 11,000 migrants have returned to Koraput till Monday but samples of only 3627 persons have been collected for tests from different TMCs. Till date, only 3470 samples from the district have been tested. Chief district medical officer Makarand Beuria said the department is collecting and testing swabs of only symptomatic persons. “Not all the returnees are symptomatic and hence, they need not undergo Covid-19 test”, he said.