ODISHA MINISTER ORDERED A PROBE INTO THE RETURN OF MIGRANT FISHERMEN FROM CHENNAI ON A BOAT
II ODISHABARTA II
BHUBANESWAR:Odisha Transport Minister Padmanabha Behera on Sunday ordered a probe into the return of migrant Odia fishermen from Chennai on a boat amid the lockdown.
Commerce and Transport Minister further informed that police have seized the boat which was bought by the migrant fishermen at a cost of Rs 2 lakh.
This is the first incident in which migrant fishermen from Odisha have made their way back to their home district on sea. These fishermen should not have made this arduous voyage by putting their lives at risk, the minister said.
Pranabindu Acharya,ADG,Police said to scribe,The state government has taken this incident seriously and directed the marine police to keep a strict vigil on the people arriving in the district further through the sea route and take appropriate action against them.
Notably, 38 fishermen, including 29 from Odisha and nine from Andhra Pradesh, who had gone to Chennai to work, were stranded in the southern metropolis following the imposition of the nationwide lockdown.
They undertook a five-day journey from Chennai along the sea route to return to their native villages. However, as they reached Patisonapur coast near Chikiti in Ganjam, the district administration, which had prior information about the sea voyage, put them in a quarantine centre on Saturday evening.
The fishermen had landed at Patisonapur beach in Ganjam district after covering over 1000 km over the sea on Saturday evening.
