Amid demands by states and recognition of the logistical challenges involved in transporting millions of people back to their home states, the Centre on Friday decided to allow special trains — called Shramik Specials — to enable stranded migrants to return home. Five such trains operated on Friday.
Twenty Shramik Special trains are scheduled to run on Saturday ferrying stranded migrants to Jharkhand, UP, Bihar from the states of Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat and the five southern states; Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.
The trains scheduled to run on Saturday from the Western Railway zone, Southern Railway, South Western Railway and Central Railway zone will ferry nearly 20,000 passengers, senior officials said.
“Trains are being planned at the request from the states. 20 trains are scheduled to run today following all the standard protocols,” Railway Protection Force DG Arun Kumar said.
Amid demands by states and recognition of the logistical challenges involved in transporting millions of people back to their home states, the Centre on Friday decided to allow special trains — called Shramik Specials — to enable stranded migrants to return home. Five such trains operated on Friday.
According to officials, railways are unlikely to run trains originating from containment zones like Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad. “There are no trains planned for now but we are running in nearby places like in Maharashtra trains are being run at other destinations like Bhiwandi and Vasai in Mumbai. Trains will only run to these places when the demand from the state government comes,” the official added.
The Railways also announced it will charge for tickets for operating special trains for stranded migrant workers amid coronavirus lockdown. The fare includes the price of regular sleeper class tickets plus superfast charges of Rs 30 and an additional charge of Rs 20 adding that state governments will coordinate and can pay on passengers’ behalf.
Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren on Saturday tweeted saying the government should roll back the fare on special trains adding that it was an “injustice to our labourers who are returning home”.
