Bhubaneswar: Migrant workers from Jharkhand residing in a remote village of Subarnapur district not allowed entering nearby village provided with cooked food during the lockdown, thanked administration.
10 people of Jharkhand came to Sajguri, a remote village in Durjantaila Grampanchyat of Birmaharajpur Block in Subarnapur district on 23rd of March. They are construction workers residing in the same premises were supposed to construct the toilet in the school. Because of the lockdown there work stopped. They were worried for their survival without any income. Lockdown forced them to continue their stay and survive with whatever they had in store. On 7th of April they were in stress when there ration was out of stock, but not been allowed to access the shops in the village.
Ensuring lockdown more strictly many of the villages closed there entrance for outsider. Villagers of Sajguri too sealed their doorways. Simultaneously the local weekly market was also shut down. These workers staying in the school were not allowed to enter into the village. They couldn’t explore any scope to procure food materials from anywhere despite of having cash. This created a situation of hunger.
As a part of the campaign to reach out migrant laboures, volunteers of RARE and ActionAid while visiting this location on 7th of April exposed to the state of affairs. The matter was brought to the notice of Collector and District Magistrate, Subarnapur. Within no time the District Administration instructed the Sarapanch to provide hot cooked meals. From the other day onwards they are being provided with 2 meals.
Among the worker Rajkumar Mandal expressed his gratitude for the swift response by the Panchayat. He is also satisfied on the quality and quantity of food supplied.
Sarapanch Ranjit Kheti says, “it is our responsibility to treat anyone forms outside the state as the guest of the district and provide all necessary support. Every possible support will be extended to these workers till they are here he added.”
Setting an example of GO – NGO collaboration, till date the district administration along with ActionAid, RARE has reached to 1443 such migrant workers residing in 135 different locations and facilitating their stay, food and counselling support.
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