Bhubaneswar: Odisha government has launched a program to facilitate movement of migrant workers stranded in the State to their home States.

“On the instructions of chief minister Naveen Patnaik, the State government is helping migrant workers by making arrangement for their transportation from border to border”, said Odisha government spokesperson on Covid-19, Subrato Bagchi, here on Thursday.

The State government through district administration facilitated movement of 9287 guest workers from Odisha for their return to home States. They were primarily from West Bengal (1385), Chhattisgarh(1477), Bihar(1036), Jharkhand (2424), Rajasthan (620), Uttar Pradesh(530), Madhya Pradesh (340) and Telengana (322).

Khurda District tops the list in arranging the return of guest workers (1696) followed by Bolangir(912), Cuttack(636), Kalahandi(616), Puri(609), Balasore (485), Rayagada (423) and Malkangiri (384). Water bottles, masks and food packets were distributed to the guest workers.

The Thursday presser was also addressed by I & PR secretary Sanjay Kumar Singh Institute of Life Science, Bhubaneswar, director Padmashree Dr. Ajay Parida.