Chennai:
Nearly 15,000 guest workers left Tamil Nadu for their home states on Wednesday in ten special trains that originated from different cities as the state stepped up measures for the return of the migrants stranded due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
The migrant workers, belonging to Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand,Odisha and Manipur departed from origin points including the state capital, central city of Tiruchirappali and the textile town of Tirupur in Western Tamil Nadu.
Christened “Back Home,” Southern Railway General Manager on his twitter handle said trains to Dhanbad, and Koderma in Jharkhand left from here and nearby Tiruvallur carrying 1,464 passengers each.
A train each to Hajipur, Darbhanga, Bapudham Motihari, and Sitamarhi in Bihar left from Dindigul, Coimbatore, Tiruchirapalli and Tirupur respectively.
Trains also headed for Rourkela in Odisha, Basti in Uttar Pradesh and Jiribam in Manipur from the state.
Totally, 14,912 guest workers left for their home states.
“…passengers registered and nominated by Government of Tamilnadu…thermal screening of passengers done and social distancing ensured,” the senior railway official said.
Chief Minister K Palaniswami had on May 16 appealed to guest workers stranded in the state not to undertake journey on foot to their home states and assured them that plans are afoot to facilitate the return of 10,000 migrant labourers every day.
On that day, he had said that 55,473 guest workers have already been sent to their home states including Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal.
