The Jharkhand government has started talks with the Nepal embassy in New Delhi for bringing back 26 workers from the state stranded in Sindhupalchok district in the neighbouring country.
“We got to know about the workers who are stranded in Nepal on Thursday morning and immediately started discussion with authorities at the Nepal embassy. We have written to the Nepal embassy to arrange for bringing back the workers till the Indian border. From there, the Jharkhand government will bring them back to their home district, Dumka, by a special bus. The entire cost of bringing back the workers would be borne by the Jharkhand government. Dumka deputy commissioner B. Rajeshwari would be coordinating the arrangements to bring back the workers from the Indo-Nepal border,” said Johnson Topno, who heads the state migrant workers’ Covid control room in Ranchi.
The official said that they had spoken to a few of the workers.
Some of the sick workers receive saline infusion Telegraph picture
“We held talks with a few of the workers and came to learn that they were facing payment issues and most of them were ill. We have also asked the embassy officials to ensure that they were given proper medication before arranging for their return to India,” added Topno.
Narayan Das from Simra village in Jama block of Dumka district said that they had gone to work at an under-construction hydropower plant and were staying in Gauri village under Bagmati block in Sindhupalchok district of Nepal since February this year.
“Most of the workers are from Simra and Ramgarh areas under Jama block of Dumka. We had come here for work last year too before the pandemic struck but had returned after the lockdown. We had some pending wages. This year we were promised that our arrears would be paid as well. However, after a lockdown was imposed in Nepal since March this year, we had not been paid our wages. Several of us are suffering from fever, cold and cough and breathing problems. The health centre is nearly 7km from our camp site,” said Narayan.
The workers have arranged saline drips and medicines from their wages.
Some of the sick workers receive saline infusion Telegraph picture
“During a video call we informed our relatives about our pathetic condition and requested them to persuade the Jharkhand government to arrange for our return to our home district a few days back,” said Narayan.
A few vernacular dailies in Dumka had reported about the stranded workers on Thursday.
Dumka MLA Basant Soren, who is the younger brother of Jharkhand chief minister Hemant, tweeted on Thursday morning to the chief minister and Dumka deputy commissioner about the need for arranging the return of the stranded workers. Jama Assembly constituency is represented by Hemant’s sister-in-law Sita Soren.
A deadly second wave of the pandemic is sweeping across Nepal, with about 7,000 to 8,000 new cases being reported daily for the past several days, which is quite high for a country of approximately 30 million people. Hospitals are full and running out of essential supplies.
Nepal recorded 246 new Covid-19 fatalities in the last 24 hours, pushing the death toll to 5,657, its health ministry said on Wednesday. The total coronavirus tally stands at 480,418 with 8,064 new cases, it said.
Additional reporting from PTI
