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Updated: Apr 11, 2020 09:56 IST

A 20-year-old migrant worker returned home in Odisha this week after cycling around 2,000 km for seven days from Sangli-Miraj in Maharashtra after the factory where he worked was closed when the 21-day national lockdown to check the spread of the coronavirus pandemic was announced last month.

The lockdown triggered an exodus of tens of thousands of migrant workers left jobless. Many of them returned from big cities to their homes on foot. The Centre has directed all states and Union territories to use their State Disaster Response Fund to provide temporary accommodation, food, clothing and medical care to migrant labourers left jobless because of the lockdown.

Mahesh Jena on April 7 arrived in Odisha’s Jajpur town, where he was stopped at a check post installed to stop outsiders from entering the district. “With a rucksack on his back, he was cycling. After lockdown was announced, the factory in Maharashtra where he worked as a daily labourer was closed leaving him and several others in great misery. He somehow managed to get a rickety bicycle from a local there and started cycling to his home in Odisha,” said police inspector Ashish Kumar Sahu.

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Jena was first screened as per protocol at the district headquarters hospital and found without any symptoms of Covid-19. He was then sent to a government quarantine centre set up at a high school in the district, where he would be kept for 14 days.

Jena said he was left with no options when the factory was closed. “When the factory was closed we were told that it would not reopen for the next five months. I figured out that if I continued to stay then I would run out of money quickly. So the only option was leaving the place at any cost,” said Jena.

He bought a rickety bicycle for Rs 1,200 on March 31 and then spent another Rs 500 to replace its tyre and tube. On April 1, Jena began his journey at 4.30 am. His initial plan was to reach his village in 15 days. “When I started, I did not want to stop, I rode during the daytime and carried on till 12 in the night. I would then look for a temple or roadside dhaba to sleep,” said Jena. He ate at roadside dhabas or at places where local police and some voluntary organisations offered free food. During the journey, he had to replace his cycle tyres. His phone too conked off.

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His initial plan was to reach his village in 15 days. “When I first arrived in Sangli along with my village friend 7 months ago, I had hazy idea about the route. On April 1 when I started from Sangli, I thought I could cover about 120-130 km a day on the cycle and reach home. But when I started, I did not want to stop, I rode during the daytime and carried on till 12 in the night. I would then look for a temple or roadside dhaba to sleep off,” said Jena.

After reaching Sholapur, he rode towards Hyderabad and then towards Vijayawada. From there he went to Vishakhapatnam and Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh till he entered Odisha at Ganjam. From Ganjam he cycled to Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and finally Jajpur on April 7 evening.

“I was worried about being picked up by police during my journey. I was stopped twice by police on Andhra-Maharashtra border and Andhra-Odisha border, but I was allowed to go,” said Jena, who lived with his uncle and father in a dilapidiated asbestos-roofed home in Jajpur before leaving for Maharashtra. He has not seen his mother from his childhood.

Jajpur block development officer Sourav Chakraborty said it was incredible the way he cycled to his home. “His journey would make a very good script for a movie,” said the BDO. Jena has not shown any symptoms of Covid -19.

Avid cyclist and president of Bhubaneswar Cycling and Adventure Club, Sanjeeb Panda said the journey of the youth showed his grit and deternination. “As cyclists, we take lot of precautions during long journey and are careful about adequate consumption of electrolytes. We ride cycles that are geared for such long journeys. What the youth achieved without having access to modern bicycle is fabulous achievement,” said Panda.

Having spent 5 days in the quarantine home, Jena said the meal of rice and dalma(a boiled curry of lentil and vegetables) being served twice a day was getting too boring. “How long can you eat the same food twice a day? After I am discharged from the quarantine centre, I plan to go back home and have a nice meal. Once the factories reopen I would again go back,” he said.