Maligaon, May 16: Subsequent to the order of Ministry of Home Affairs regarding the 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 the 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 on these special trains and no individual can come to any Railway station on their own and board these trains.
As of 16.05.2020, seventy-one such Shramik Special Trains reached NF.Railway areas with more than 82000 stranded people. Passengers are being given free meals and water during the journey.
Passengers mainly comprised of students, patients, and migrant labours with their family members. Out of 71 trains, seven trains arrived in various N.E. states like Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, and Assam till today with about 8700 stranded people.
Another five trains will be arriving within the next 2 days in these states. While sixty-three trains arrived in Bihar areas under NFR and one train arrived at New Jalpaiguri station in West Bengal under NFR.
In NFR areas under Katihar division of Bihar trains arrived at stations like Katihar, Purnea, Arraria, Kishanganj. Another 7(seven) trains will be arriving in these areas by tomorrow evening with stranded people.
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, Karamnasa, Mangalore Central, Moradabad, Namburu and various stations in Mumbai, Chennai etc.
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 and 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.
Moreover, few “Shramik Special” trains are also planned for transportation of stranded persons from Northeast to states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka by respective state governments in the coming days.
Indian Railways has already operated more than 1000 “Shramik Special” trains and transported more than 12 lac passengers across the country till 15th May 2020.
