Odisha govt to airlift over 300 migrants stranded in North-east states

Over 300 people from Odisha stranded in Mpur, Tripura, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Assam are being brought by Air Asia Flight to Bhubaneswar by the state government.

"Amid the COVID-19 lockdown, the state government has decided that persons stranded in remote parts from where rail services are not available and also travelling on road is not possible, will be evacuated by air," the Odisha government said in a statement.

"In this regard, more than 300 persons from Odisha stranded in Mpur, Tripura, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Assam were brought/will be brought by Air Asia Flight to Bhubaneswar," it said.

While a flight carrying migrant workers from Mpur landed at Bhubaneswar Airport at 2.30 pm today, another flight 138 migrants stranded in Assam and Meghalaya were also scheduled to arrive Odisha by a flight on Wednesday.

Concerned officers of the Odisha government interacted with the concerned state governments and also the migrant workers, who are being brought back to the state. They completed the formalities required under the COVID-19 protocols and made every arrangement to bring those workers to the concerned airports by picking them up from different pockets of the north-eastern states in vehicles, the Odisha government said.

( With inputs from ANI )