On May 1, the Center started over 300 “Shramik Special” trains to take the laborers to their hometowns. But the workers cannot directly book train tickets. They have to first register with the government of the host state, which then coordinates with the government of the home state.There has been rush to railway stations around the country to board the trains. However, the police have pushed the laborers back, in some cases using force to do so.
A train carrying migrant laborers from Vasai in Maharashtra reached Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh reached Rourkela in Odisha. The laborers present in this train are in great trouble because neither they have anything to eat nor there is no arrangement for food in the train.
On May 21, at 7: 20 minutes, the Harmonic Express from Mumbai’s Vasai station was supposed to reach Gorakhpur on 22 May but after reaching Gorakhpur, it reached Rourkela in Odisha. When the train reached Rourkela, there was chaos among the laborers. Vishal, who is traveling in the train, told Quint that the TT or the police present in the train did not give him any concrete information about this. Just keep saying that there is a problem on the track ahead, so this way has been brought.
Vishal says, “There is nothing to eat, all those who brought them were spoiled in the heat, yet they are eating the spoiled food due to hunger.” Still not giving any information. ”
A laborer traveling in this train told Quint that
The train is still in Jharkhand, food was received in Mumbai, since then no water has been received nor food. If the train stops somewhere, then fill the bottle with water. Inside the train there is no water in the washroom, children, women are all in the train.
Railways gave clarification
The matter has been clarified by the Central Railway’s PRO. According to the Railways, “Due to heavy congestion on Itarsi-Jabalpur-DDU route, a lot of labor special trains are running, the route has been changed. Therefore, it has been decided to run trains temporarily on the diverted route via WRI, Udhna, Surat, Vedad, Ankleshwar.
Gorakhpur and Rourkela are two distinct ends
Please tell that a clear route has been written on the ticket of the labor train which has run from Vasai, Mumbai. According to the route written on the ticket, the train had to reach Gorakhpur via Khandwa, Itarsi and Jabalpur via Vasai Kalyan.
Gorakhpur is about 1500 kilometers north of Vasai in Mumbai, while Rourkela is about 1600 kilometers from Vasai. In such a situation, if the train of these migrant laborers reached their home in 24 hours, then their first 24 hours were wasted in going to Odisha and now they have to travel about 800 km from Odisha to Gorakhpur.
There have also been complaints of black marketing of tickets for the trains. Tickets that never arrived have been sold for prices as exorbitant as Rs 1,500.
India has so far reported 1,25,101 cases of the corona virus, including 3,720 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The nationwide lock down is set to conclude on May 31.
