A Block Development Officer (BDO) in Odisha allegedly abused the migrant workers arriving in the state from Surat in Gujarat.
Some women migrant labourers of Banarpal block in Angul district had reached Bhubaneswar by train from Surat on Wednesday morning. They were taken to a government quarantine centre at Barapada Primary School in Chhendipada block of the district in the afternoon.
As the women migrant workers belonged to Banarpal block, they requested Chhendipada BDO Sunil Kumar Kerketa over phone to make arrangements for their stay at a quarantine centre in their own block. But Kerketa told them to either stay put there or leave for their village on foot.
“I did not bring you to the quarantine centre. If you want to stay in the centre you can, or you can walk to your home,” the BDO is heard saying in the audio clip that has now gone viral.
This comes a day after another BDO in Odisha was seen misbehaving and insulting a group of migrant workers who had returned from Gujarat.
Baliapal BDO Chhabirani Sahoo hurled abuses at the migrant workers and even flaunted her position when the migrant workers asked for water. A video of the incident was widely shared on social media.
Odisha’s Panchayati Raj Minister Pratap Jena said on Thursday that he has ordered an inquiry into Sahoos’s alleged misbehaviour towards the migrant workers. Jena said he has asked the Balasore district collector to probe the incident.
