The first special trains carrying more than 2,000 migrant workers from Maharashtra and Kerala to their homes states arrived in Uttar Pradesh and Odisha on Sunday.
The migrants who were stranded outside their native states due to the nationwide lockdown imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus made it back on the special trains, marking an end to their long wait.
The railways is running Shramik Special trains to move migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and other persons stranded in various parts of the country since March 25.
The first train left for Jharkhand from Hyderabad on Friday. The 02121 Shramik Special from Nashik in Maharashtra started its journey on Saturday morning and reached Lucknow on Sunday at 5.52 am as the train entered Platform No. 1 amid heavy presence of railway, police and health officials.
Meanwhile, the first Shramik Special train to Odisha carrying around 1,150 migrant workers from Kerala arrived in Ganjam district on Sunday. The train had left Ernakulam railway station on Friday evening and arrived at Jagannathpur railway station in Ganjam on Sunday morning. It further proceeded to Khurda Road railway station, where it terminated.
Passengers were instructed to wear masks and maintain social distance on the platform and exit the station premises only after a medical check-up was done on everyone. In Up, after the check-up was done, passengers were given food packets and directed towards buses that would take them home.
The Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation deployed 32 buses to cater to the migrants from all districts in the state. On Friday, around 5,000 migrant labourers from UP stranded in Madhya Pradesh returned in 155 buses, while around 1,341 labourers hailing from MP were sent back home from Uttar Pradesh.
Migrants returning from Kerala had been screened and issued certification for the journey before boarding the Shramil Special train. Once they arrived in Jagannathpur railway station, passengers were given food packets and stamped with indelible ink, highlighting that they had returned from another state, before boarding the buses for quarantine centres, officials said.
Odisha government has made further arrangement to bring more migrant workers who are stranded in Kerala and Gujarat.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik thanked his Kerala counterpart Pinarayi Vijayan for taking good care of those stranded during the lockdown and cooperating with the Odisha government to ensure their safe return. He also various government departments for “meticulous planning and precision” in completing the first leg of ‘Operation Subha Yatra’, the state administration’s endeavour to facilitate the return of stranded migrant workers.
(With inputs from PTI)