Boat with 33 migrants reaches Odisha coast from Chennai

29/04/2020, STAFF REPORTER,BERHAMPUR

Risky ride: The boat carrying migrant workers at Arjyapalli fishing jetty near Gopalpur port. Special Arrangement Special Arrangement

A fishing boat carrying 33 migrant workers from Chennai reached Odisha’s Ganjam district on Tuesday. This is the third motorboat to bring migrants from Chennai to Ganjam since April 25. To dodge the lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19, these workers opted for a dangerous journey without any navigation equipment.

The motorboat set out from Chennai on April 24 and reached the Arjyapalli fishing jetty near the Gopalpur port at 1 a.m. Twenty-nine passengers were from Ganjam and one from Puri, and the other three were from Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh. They were kept in quarantine at Arjyapalli High School.

Swabs of persons showing symptoms will be sent for testing, an official said.

One of the two engines of their boat developed a snag near the Andhra Pradesh-Odisha border. As the boat ran on a single engine, they arrived late. The migrants, who worked at the Kasimedu fishing jetty in Tamil Nadu, contributed ₹2 lakh to buy the boat.