Maligaon, May 13: Subsequent to the order of Ministry of Home Affairs regarding movement of migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and other persons stranded at different places by special trains, Indian Railways had decided to operate “Shramik Special” trains.
These Shramik Special Trains which started operations from various locations of the country from 1st May,2020 onward are being run continuously as per the guidelines issued by Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA) on end to end basis at the request of respective State Governments.
Only those persons enlisted by the State Governments and brought to the station can travel in these special trains and no individual can come to any Railway station on their own and board these trains.
As of 13.05.2020, 36(thirty six) such Shramik Special Trains reached NFR areas with more than 42000 stranded people. Passengers are being given free meals and water during journey.
Passengers mainly comprised of students, patients and migrant labours with their family members. Out of 36 trains 17(seventeen) trains arrived at Katihar, nine trains arrived at Purnea, five arrived at Arariya and three arrived at Kishanganj stations of Bihar with stranded people from various locations of the country.
Two more trains arrived today. one at Agartala Tripura and another at Jiribum Manipur with stranded people of those states. These Shramik Special Trains mainly came from areas like Kozhikkode Calicut, Kota, Jaipur, Nandurbar, Hisar, Surat, Vadodara, Bharuch, Ghatkesar, Ludhiana, Ambala, Aligarh, Rohtak, Kalyan, Bhiwani, Jalandhar, Bengaluru etc.
Four such Shramik Special Trains are planned to reach various stations of Bihar within NFR area in the coming 2-3 days. Another two such trains one bound for Mizoram and another for North Bengal are also planned to reach the respective states with stranded people of those areas in coming days.
All the passengers arriving by the Shramik special trains were received by respective civil administration of the states at Railway station after following all necessary Covid-19 protocols.
All passengers were guided by RPF & GRP personal in queues after de-boarding from the train for proper screening by state government officials by maintaining social distancing. The station was properly barricaded by deploying adequate RPF, GRP, and local police personnel to prevent the entry of unauthorized persons.
Indian Railways has operated more than 550 “Shramik Special” trains and transported nearly 6.50 lac passengers across the country till 12th May, 2020.
