HARROWING TIME FOR MIGRANTS AS TRAINS RUN LATE

LUDHIANA : Learning no lesson from the delayed departure of all three Shramik Special trains in the past two days, the government machinery in Ludhiana could not ensure timely departure of the four trains planned on Thursday either.

Migrants summoned to board the trains were at the receiving end as they hopelessly waited in the scorching heat to be ferried to the railway station from the various bus pick-up points.

Scheduled to leave at 11am, the first train of the day for Purnia, Bihar, with 1,177 passengers, chugged off at 2.20pm, with a delay of 3.2 hours.

This caused the second train – Ludhiana-Gorakhpur Shramik Special – to leave 3.55 hours late at 5.55pm. It had 928 passengers.

Sources in the railways confirmed that boarding for the Gorakhpur train started at 2pm, at its scheduled departure time.

The third train for Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, with 1,188 passengers, was to leave at 8pm, but was also 90 minutes late.

Around 100 migrants leaving on this train, were seen waiting for the pick-up bus near the Verka Milk Plant since 2pm. While some found shelter under the trees, other braved the sun with luggage on their heads for around four hours till the bus arrived at 6pm. The last train headed to Amethi was planned at 11pm.

A senior official in the district administration, requesting anonymity, said it was an unprecedented situation, so various departments were experimenting different protocols to ensure that maximum trains ran in a day. “On Wednesday night, it was decided to change the venue for medical screening from the ISBT to Guru Nanak Stadium, as transporting passengers from pick-up points to the bus stand to the railway station was a time-consuming process,” he said.