On Friday, 169 girls from Odisha’s Kendrapada district, working in a textile manufacturing factory in Kerala, returned to their home state on Friday in a special flight organized by actor Sonu Sood.

The girls, working in Rajnagar block and Ernakulam in Kendrapara district, arrived at Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar by an Air Asia flight from Cochin International Airport. Along with him, 9 other migrant workers from Odisha, who worked in another company, were also on the same flight.

The girls had earlier posted a picture on social media urging Odisha authorities to expel them from Kerala as their factory was closed due to the lockout. “Our boss stopped paying us salary and we want to go home at any cost. We have been stuck in our rooms since the factory closed. In the video, the girls said with folded hands. The girls said that they had resigned from the factory on fears of being infected with Covid-19 and wanted to return.

After the plight of the girls became public on social media, actor Sonu Sood came forward to help them. He took permission from the Odisha government and got an aircraft from Bangalore to airlift girls from Ernakulam. The actor bore the entire cost of the flight.

Since last month, Sonu has been sending thousands of stranded migrants home in Maharashtra. He repatriated some 12,000 migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Bihar by buses, spending his own money for the journey. Due to his exemplary work, many people have started calling him as a protector of migrant workers.

News Source: HindustanTimes

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