Shramik train with 1,296 migrants onboard chugged off to Bihar from here on Tuesday. This was the second special train that departed from here. Another train for Uttar Pradesh will depart in the evening.
After conducting a medical examination and providing food packets and water bottles, the passengers were allowed to board the train and they were seated while maintaining social distancing, officials said.
Train for Bhagalpur, Munger and Banka in Bihar with full capacity of 1,296 left at scheduled time 2 p.m. from Chandigarh, Advisor Manoj Parida said. A day earlier, the train with 1,260 stranded persons left for Kisanganj in Bihar.
He said all expenses in both the trains were borne by the Chandigarh Administration. Migrant Sunil Kumar said that he and his family were stranded in Dera Bassi, near Chandigarh, for over a month as he lost job owing to the closure of his factory.
“It is a big relief for us. I will return only when the coronavirus scare is over,” he added. Over 40 trains have already departed from Punjab ferrying migrant workers to their homes.
“I am extremely happy though that a large number of workers have decided to stay back in Punjab. We hope that all workers travelling to their homes will also return back to Punjab soon,” Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said.
He said his administration is proactively working to make all necessary arrangements for migrant workers to travel home right from booking trains to providing food and water. “This is our duty and responsibility towards our migrant workers in these difficult times and I hope to see you back again,” the Chief Minister said.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said the government has made special arrangements for bringing the migrant labourers from various places to their nearby railway stations in special buses. The government has set up help desks and bearing the entire expanses of their travel by train.
Twenty-seven more trains are planned to depart from Haryana four days. Also, the state has deployed its 100 plus state roadways buses for dropping the migrants.
