First ‘shramik special’ train leaves with 900 migrants

Our Correspondent
Ludhiana, May 5

A ‘Shramik Special’ Express train, first of the series of such special trains to be run by the Railways to ferry migrants from the industrial capital of the state back to their native places, left for Prayagraj (Allahabad) at 9 pm amidst tight security measures. Around 900 migrants, out of 1,200 called by the district authorities for the journey, turned up to board the train.

Railway officials said all arrangements to bring the migrants to the railway station from different places and their screening before boarding the train were carried out by the district administration and health authorities with adequate police security in place.

The officials said only those persons were allowed to travel by this train who had registered on the web portal of the state government set up for this purpose and each applicant was sent an SMS which would be treated as their journey ticket. The rail fare of the migrant workers was also to be borne by the state government, said the railway officials.

It was stated that a plan was under way to run more such trains to different destinations in Uttar Pradeh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal depending on the number of intending passengers expressing their desire to travel back to their native places due to the lockdown imposed in the wake of Covid ourbreak.