Over 150 Odias Attacked, Detained in West Bengal Return Back

Balasore: Over 150 inhabitants of Odisha’s Balasore and Mayurbhanj districts, who were allegedly attacked and detained by locals in West Bengal’s Medinipur, returned home on Tuesday night.

It is suspected that these Odias faced the attack following assaults on Bengali migrant labourers on suspicion of being Bangladeshi nationals in Odisha.

“Now our people are safe”, said Balasore MP Pratap Chandra Sarangi, who took up the matter with the Odisha police. According to sources, these people from Odisha travelled to Kharika village under Keshpur police station limits for treatment by a local healer. They were attacked while they were returning in buses and SUVs. Kehspur police reached the spot to protect the Odias but the attackers gheraoed the police station.

Some stranded Odias informed Sarangi about the incident and he spoke to Odisha CM Mohan Majhi, seeking his intervention. Special buses were arranged to bring back these Odias.

Following attacks on workers from West Bengal in Odisha, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called up Odisha CM on August 11. She also urged the labourers from the state to return to West Bengal as soon as possible and take up employment available there. A demonstration was also held outside the Utkal Bhawan in Kolkata against the alleged assaults on Bengali workers in Odisha.