Odia actor helping migrants get home

think they will die walking. It’s important to talk to them,” he said.

It started on May 11 when the actor received a message on social media from Rosalin Mishra, a student of Central Sanskrit University in Rajasthan seeking help for 80 stranded students there. “It was beyond my imagination to handle the arrangements for buses, getting travel permits and passes for inter-state borders. Initially, bus owners were reluctant to travel to Odisha and they wanted more money. But that was sorted out eventually,” Mishra said.

Mishra hired two buses to ferry the students between Jaipur and Bhubaneswar on May 21, and paid for those who couldn’t arrange their own fare.

Rosalin now helps manage his social media profiles. Together with two other students, they trawl through Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, and communicate with people seeking Mishra’s help. “Last week, I coordinated the return of 44 girl migrant workers who lost their jobs in Kerala and were desparate to come back,” she said.

Mishra said he set an expenditure target of Rs 20 lakh for philanthropy and he is about to reach that amount. Luckily, people are also keen to help out, and Mishra is directing them to his trust, which he set up last year.

“Though film actors do reach out to people in times of natural distress, Sabyasachi has gone several steps ahead. What is creditable is he has done it when the film industry has had no business and actors are unlikely to get any work for quite some time due to lockdown issues,” Odisha Cine Artistes Association president Kuna Tripathy said.

Noted sand artist Sudarshan Patnaik recently made a sand illustration in praise of Mishra’s efforts at the Puri beach.

On Twitter, when someone tagged Sonu Sood – the Bollywood actor who helped migrants by organising buses – another user tagged Mishra. “Brother.. when you have wishes of the entire nation with you then nothing is impossible. We will make sure everyone reaches back to their family. Keep the good work going,” Sood replied.