JORHAT, April 17 - Nineteen youths who were reportedly working in a stone quarry along the Assam-Nagaland border at Geleki area of Sivasagar district, arrived here on Wednesday evening after walking all the way from the site since Tuesday.
The youths, hailing from Sarupathar under Dhansiri civil subdivision of Golaghat district, reportedly set out on foot after food stocks got exhausted and the owner of the quarry and contractor who brought them to work at the site allegedly abandoned them in the middle of the lockdown period.
As the group were spotted by local people at Phansi Ali locality here, they provided them tea and biscuits and informed the district administration. The group was taken by police and administration officials and lodged at the Marwari Charitable Trust guest house at KK Baruah Road here.
The group told newspersons on Thursday that as they ran out of food stocks and the quarry owner and the contractor who took them to the site did not respond to their calls, they decided to proceed towards home. �We would have starved to death,� they said.
An NGO provided some refreshments on Wednesday night.
When contacted, a district administration official said medical tests of the youths were done by the Health department, and the administration was in touch with the Golaghat district administration to send the youths to their homes where they will be kept under quarantine.
Meanwhile, 13 migrant workers reportedly crossed over from Nagaland into Assam at Mariani in Jorhat district on Wednesday night while another seven came on Thursday.
The workers were stopped at the border police outposts and were later taken to the Titabar Subdivisional Civil Hospital and quarantined there after a health check-up.
A Titabar police official said that among the 13 found on Wednesday, a few were from Mariani and the others were from Karbi Anglong and Golaghat districts. He said the seven found on Thursday were all from Jorhat district, most of them from Mariani.
