The Odisha government on Saturday repatriated 62 Odia migrant workers from Tamil Nadu state, a week after an ammonia gas leak at a private seafood processing unit in Tiruvallur district claimed the lives of 12 workers, even as five others remained on ventilators across hospitals in Chennai.
The workers arrived at Bhubaneswar railway station from Chennai where the state government had made necessary arrangements to provide food, drinking water, medical check-ups, rest and uninterrupted transportation.
Among the returnees, 58 are from Keonjhar district while the others belong to Koraput, Rayagada, Mayurbhanj and Dhenkanal.
The evacuation comes in the wake of an ammonia gas leak on June 21 at the St. Peter and Paul Seafood Export Company in Tiruvallur district near Chennai.
Labor Commissioner Indramani Tripathi said the eviction was part of the government’s efforts to bring workers back to their homes.
Read also:Several were hospitalized after a suspected ammonia gas leak in Tiruvallur, Tamil Nadu
“On Friday, 62 migrant workers from Odia boarded a train from Chennai. They reached Bhubaneswar safely on Saturday morning. All necessary arrangements, including food, drinking water, health checks and transportation, were made in advance,” Tripathi said.
Among the returnees are 35 female workers, all from Keonjhar district. The remaining 27 are men, including 23 from Keonjhar and one each from Koraput, Rayagada, Mayurbhanj and Dhinkanal. They were transported to their places of origin in special buses arranged by the government.
According to Tripathi, 12 workers from Odisha have died so far, while five others remain in critical condition and undergoing ventilator support at Vels Hospital, Sri Venkateswara Hospital, Stanley Medical College and Rajiv Gandhi Government Hospital in Chennai.
Tripathi said that the Odisha Labor Department, in coordination with the Tamil Nadu government and the district administration, is monitoring the condition of the infected workers on a daily basis.
In the wake of the tragedy, the Odisha government announced an ex-gratia $10 lakh from the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund to the family of every deceased worker.
