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3 min readBhubaneswarMar 29, 2026 06:30 AM IST
Over seven lakh Odia workers are employed in Surat’s textile and power loom sectors. With their meagre income of Rs 300-700 per day now insufficient to cover rising gas and food costs, many are opting to take trains back home.
When 36-year-old Sudarshan Mahakud, a native of Ganjam’s Buguda, left for Surat in November, he planned to return home after a year. The LPG crisis triggered by the West Asia conflict has forced Sudarshan, who works in a Surat power loom, to return early.
“For the last three weeks, we’ve been finding it very difficult to arrange for cooking gas. Since most of the workers don’t have a regular LPG connection, they depend on 5 kg from the black market. They now charge Rs 500/kg to refill, which is also not available easily,” Sudarshan told The Indian Express.
He isn’t the only one. As the West Asia conflict shows no signs of abating, hundreds of Odia workers are returning from Surat, where they are employed in textile mills and the power loom industry. Most are from Ganjam.
Over seven lakh Odia workers are employed in Surat’s textile and power loom sectors. With their meagre income of Rs 300-700 per day now insufficient to cover rising gas and food costs, many are opting to take trains back home.
“For 2-3 days, we used wood to cook food outside our room but we were prohibited to do so by the landlords. They didn’t even allow the use of an induction stove. We had no other option but to return to our home,” says 27-year-old Ganjam native Rakesh Roul, who has been working in Surat for four years.
For Rakesh and his five roommates, all from nearby villages and now back home, uncertainty over the conflict means they do not know when they can return.
Like them, Dilip Kumar Pallai from Gondadhar village in Ganjam’s Jagannathprasad block returned last week with his wife and seven-year-old son as he could no longer afford rising costs.
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“Even though we had to wait for long hours to refill our cylinder, there was no guarantee that we would get it the same day. The day I went to refill my cylinder, I couldn’t go to work and lost out on the day’s wages. Eateries, too, have doubled their prices. So, we decided to return,” he says.
For many, rumours of a possible Covid-like lockdown have fuelled the return. Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri dismissed these as false, but the rumours persist.
“If this happens, it will make our life difficult like the Covid situation. So, we thought it was wiser to return early. At least we’ll be with our families,” says B Sankar from Ganjam’s Ramachandarpur village.
Sujit Bisoyi is a Special Correspondent with the Indian Express and covers Odisha. His interests are in politics, policy and people’s stories. He tweets at @bisoyisujit87 ... Read More
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