All 42 Jharkhand migrant workers stranded after Tamil Nadu gas leak return home

Ranchi, Jul 2 (PTI) All 42 migrant workers from Jharkhand who were stranded in Tamil Nadu following an ammonia gas leak at a seafood processing unit in Tiruvallur have returned to the state, an official said on Thursday. The workers reached Jharkhand by the Alappuzha-Dhanbad Express train, said Shikha Lakra, team leader at the State Migration Control Room. "They were brought back after they expressed their willingness to return home. Of the 42 workers, 15 got down at Chakradharpur railway station in West Singhbhum district, two alighted at Ranchi, while the remaining travelled to Dhanbad. The state government bore the entire cost of their journey," she said. An ammonia gas leak at the seafood processing unit on June 21 left 17 women dead and several others injured. While 14 of the deceased were from Odisha, two were from Assam and one hailed from Jharkhand. Lakra said the body of Priti Devi, a migrant worker from Nichitpur in Dhanbad district who died in the accident, was brought to Ranchi on Tuesday and later transported to Dhanbad by ambulance. "The Labour Department spent Rs 50,000 to bring back the body. After completion of the necessary formalities, the family will be provided financial assistance of Rs 1 lakh," she said. The labour superintendents of the districts to which the returning workers belong have also been directed to register them on the e-Shram portal so they can be linked to various government social security schemes, she added. PTI ANB SOM