Special trains ferry workers home

Labourers leave Kerala, Telangana

02/05/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,HYDERABAD

Going home: Police checking papers of workers who want to travel on the train from Aluva on Friday. Vibhu HThe Hindu

In a move to help migrant workers return home, Kerala and Telangana operated special trains on Friday.

One train to Jharkhand was run by the South Central Railway (SCR) and the Telangana government from Hyderabad. In Kerala, the first ‘Shramik Special’ left Aluva for Odisha. The Railways will similarly operate five special trains from Kerala on Saturday.

The train from Hyderabad was arranged for 1,225 labourers hailing from Jharkhand. It had 22 sleeper coaches and left Lingampally in the western suburbs for Hatia, in Ranchi district, at 4.50 a.m.

The workers were brought in 56 buses from construction sites on the Indian Institute of Technology-Hyderabad (IIT-H) by the police and the Sangareddy district administration. They were then screened, and their details collected.

Station barricaded

The Lingampally station was barricaded to prevent outsiders from getting in. SCR officials said the operation was taken up at the request of the Telangana government and secrecy was maintained after incidents in Mumbai where rumours brought thousands of labourers to railway stations.

SCR General Manager Gajanan Mallya asked the authorities to arrange food and water en route for the 24-hour non-stop journey. In each bogie, about 52 people were accommodated, maintaining social distancing, and Railway Protection Force and Government Railway Police personnel were deputed as escort, said Chief PRO Ch. Rakesh.

Tickets were issued to workers, and officials indicated that the Telangana government would meet the expenditure.

Train to Bhubaneswar

The non-stop special carrying 1,140 migrant workers from Aluva in Kerala left for Khurda Road (near Bhubaneswar) on Friday night. It was the first such train for migrant workers stranded in the State. The train with 24 carriages took in 35 to 50 workers per coach as per social distancing norms. Agriculture Minister V.S. Sunil Kumar, District Collector S. Suhas, and District Police Chief (Ernakulam Rural) K. Karthik were present.

Workers from Odisha account for nearly 12% of the migrant workforce in the district. “Migrants from Perumbavur, Muvattupuzha, Kothamangalam and Kuruppampady were screened and issued medical certificates,” said C. Jayakumar, inspector, Perumbavur.

(With inputs from Kochi Bureau)