Nearly 700 Odia plumbers stranded in Nepal

Odisha Channel Bureau Kendrapara, April 27: Nearly 700 plumbers from Odisha’s Kendrapara district are now stranded in earthquake-devastated Himalayan Kingdom of Nepal, according to reports reaching here from family sources of migrant workers.Many of those stranded are yet to keep touch with their families, while others have managed to talk to their near and one dears.“It’s hell of a life in Nepal.People are frightful.We are going through the worst nightmare of life.There are rubbles everywhere.The earth crust is shaking every day.Nobody knows here when tremor would deal another telling blow on us.Since past three days, we are living in an open field.There is acute scarcity of food and water”, narrated Prasant Biswal, a plumber from Penthapala village who is living in temporary shelter in Phulchowk near Kathmandu. “I am lucky to have survived and talk to the loved ones.I have talked to mother and wife.But many have not succeeded to do so.I know nothing about them.“It has become an annual ritual for the skilled human resources from Odisha’s Kendrapara district to Nepal.Kendrapara plumbers are much in demand in Kathmandu and other urban centres of Nepal.In fact plumbing sector is controlled by Odisha’s plumbers.As per my estimate, over 2000 plumbers are employed here in various places of Nepal, he said. The administration has launched an exercise to ascertain the number of plumbers who are presently stranded in Nepal.A team of officials are visiting the plumbers’ villages.The list would be sent to government for evacuation of stranded workers, said officials.