New Delhi:
The second Shramik Special train from the national capital left for Bihar’s Muzaffarpur on Friday with 1,200 stranded migrant workers on board, official said.
The workers were ferried to the New Delhi Railway station mostly in Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses, and in some cases in police vans from shelters homes run by the city government.
“The second Shramik Special train has left Delhi for Muzaffarpur. This train is carrying 1,200 passengers,” Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot tweeted.
Labour Minister Gopal Rai said that fare for all passengers will be borne by the Delhi government.
The first batch of passengers from Delhi was ferried to Madhya Pradesh’s Chhatarpur on Thursday. More Shramik Special trains from Delhi to different states are likely to be arranged in the coming days.
Around 350 Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel, 100 state government staffers and around 200 railway personnel are coordinating with each other to successfully transport these migrants back home, officials said.
The train with 24 coaches with around 50 passengers in each was delayed by almost an hour while following protocols laid down to prevent spread of the respiratory infection.
At the station, railway officials and police ensured that passengers strictly followed social distancing.
However, there were many who were not in shelter homes but had filled forms to go back to their native states. Some had come to the station with a hope that they would be allowed to board the train.
Manish Kumar (24) had managed to reach the station, but was asked to go back as his name did not figure in the list of passengers.
A dejected Kumar said he had planned to go to home in Muzaffarpur in Bihar on March 24, but could not due to the lockdown. He has been laid off by his firm that deals in exports and imports.
“I had filled a form online on May 2 and it showed it was successfully submitted. But I did not receive any response after that. Now I neither have any job nor any place to live. I thought that I could go back home this time but even that does not look possible,” he said.
