Odisha workers living under trees for 15 days

Hyderabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said he had taken note of the migrants walking on roads and along the railway tracks with great concern, while the state government has explained to him that they were taking all necessary measures and sending back all those who want to go back.

The state government even claimed that some of them were coming back to work after staying with their families for a few days.

But the ground situation appears to be different.

A group of about 60 migrants, including children from different parts of Odisha, are living under trees at Narsingi for the last fortnight as they were neither allowed to go by walk nor they were provided transportation by the authorities.

The migrants had come to work in a construction company and after the announcement of the lockdown the company had asked them to leave stating that there was no work. The labour had no idea about the construction agency earlier.

They said that it was a small and local company. They had come from places like Kalahandi, Nabarangpur in Odisha and other places just a week before the lockdown was announced.

The workers said that they want to go back to their native places because there is not even shelter here. A worker Alok Das, who came from Kalahandi, said that they were forced to live under trees beside the roads at Narsingi and whenever there is rain they rush to a nearby Hanuman temple in the military area.

The workers were happy when they heard that the government was facilitating the transportation of workers.

However, they were not so lucky as they had to face lathis because of overcrowding near the police station. "When we approached the police station they registered a few names and later lathi-charged. We had to come back to the open place and wait for our turn," they said.

The workers said that they are even struggling for food. Passers-by provide them food and give some essentials. "A few give us food, some give money and essential commodities.

We want to go to our native places since our families are alone there," said Alok Das. "Khana ki koi chinta nahi hai sir, lekin family bada cheez hai woh wahan akele hai.

What will we do by being idle here hence we want the government to allow us to go home and provide necessary facilities instead of lathi-charging us," said Tankadhar Khamri, another worker from Nabrangpur. They appealed to the government to come to their rescue.