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Bhubaneswar: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued an order on Friday allowing the movement of migrant workers, tourists, students and other persons stranded at different places by special trains to be operated by Railway Ministry. MoR will also designate nodal officer(s) for coordinating with States and UTs for their movement, it said.
Following the much-awaited relaxation, the Railways this morning ran its first special train to ferry 1,200 stranded migrants from Lingampally in Telangana to Hatia in Jharkhand. A special train carrying over 1,000 Odia migrants also left for Odisha from Aluva railway station in Kerala reportedly around 10 pm. The migrants were stranded in Kochi region of Kerala after enforcement of the nation-wide lockdown in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak.
State Home Secretary Biswas Mehta informed that all arrangements are in place for the first train, carrying over 1000 stranded migrant labourers from Ernakulam (Kerala) for Bhubaneswar in Odisha Friday evening.
According to the State Labour Department, there are 20,826 camps across the state where 3,61,190 migrant labourers are presently residing.
"All those who are going will have to pay the base fare. Around 1,200 migrant labourers are expected to be on board. Tomorrow we are planning more trains. These are all non-stop trains. We alone cannot do this, as partnering states to which these people are going also have to agree, said Mehta.
"Partnering states and Kerala have to work in tandem as those states have to arrange for quarantine. As and when states like West Bengal, Jharkhand, Assam and Bihar agree, we will be sending the people from here," said Mehta.
He requested all the migrant workers to cooperate with the district authorities. This apart, all returnees will ensure that they maintain social distancing throughout the journey.
"My appeal to all those wishing to return is to listen to the district authorities. There should not be any problems. Everyone who wishes to return will be taken. Since there is a limit of 1200 in one train, all have to be patient. We expect around three lakh people to return from here," said Mehta.
As per official sources, the Odisha government has facilitated the return of 975 students of the State, who were stranded at the coaching hub of Kota in Rajasthan due to the ongoing lockdown. As many as 63 students from Jharsuguda stuck at Kota have been facilitated with buses for safe return. All of them will be quarantined at Belpahar College, informed district Collector adding that parents will not be allowed to meet their wards for 14 days. Another 50 students from Bolangir, who were stranded in Kota Rajasthan due to COVID-19 lockdown, left for Odisha today in two buses.
In another guideline issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, it has been decided to run 'Shramik Special' trains from Labour Day today for carrying stranded migrants.
Notably, almost 40 days after the passenger train services were suspended in a bid to combat the spread of novel coronavirus, the Railways deployed the first special train early morning today to ferry stranded migrants from Telangana to Jharkhand. The train left the Lingampalli station at 5 am and is likely to reach Hatia in Jharkhand around 11 pm. The services of the special train come two days after the central government allowed movement of those stranded but in buses only.
Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) allows movement of migrant workers, tourists, students & other persons stranded at different places, by special trains to be operate by Ministry of Railways (MoR); MoR to designate nodal officer(s) for coordinating with States/UTs for their movement pic.twitter.com/99CEGHzezu
— OTV (@otvnews) May 1, 2020
(With IANS Inputs)
