642 ‘Shramik Special’ trains run so far, around 8 lakh migrants ferried

NEW DELHI: The Railways has operated 642 Shramik Special trains since May 1, ferrying home eight lakh migrant workers who were stranded in various parts of the country due to the Coronavirus-triggered lockdown, officials said on Wednesday.

Of these, Uttar Pradesh received the maximum number of trains (301), followed by Bihar (169), they said.

Over three lakh migrants have returned to Uttar Pradesh in special trains so far, the highest in the country, a senior official said on Wednesday.

Among other states Madhya Pradesh received 53 trains, Jharkhand 40 trains, Odisha 38, Rajasthan 8, West Bengal 7, Chhattisgarh 6, and Uttarakhand 4 trains.

Andhra Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Maharashtra received three trains each, while one train each terminated in Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Manipur, Mizoram, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Tripura.

A proper screening of the passengers is carried out before they board the trains, the Railways has said, adding during the journey, the passengers are given free meals and water.

From Monday, these Shramik Special' trains started carrying around 1,700 passengers each, instead of the earlier 1,200, to ferry as many workers home as possible.

While initially these trains had no stoppages, the Railways announced on Monday that up to three stoppages in the destination states will be allowed.

The decision was taken after several state governments made a request in this regard, officials said.

While the Railways is yet to announce the cost incurred on these special services, officials indicated that the national transporter is spending around Rs 80 lakh per service.

The Centre had earlier stated that the cost of the services was shared on a 85:15 ratio between Centre and states.

Since the Shramik Special' train service started, Gujarat has remained the top originating state, followed by Kerala.

Bihar and Uttar Pradesh top the list of receiving states.

Earlier, the Railways drew flak from opposition parties for charging for these services.

In its guidelines, the national transporter has said the trains will ply only if they have a 90-per cent occupancy.

On Monday, a statement issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said the Railways will now run 100

Shramik Specials every day to facilitate faster movement of stranded workers.

262 Shramik special trains had ferried 3.34 lakh migrant workers to their native states from Gujarat as of Tuesday night, a government official said. Another 56,800 migrants were set to leave by Wednesday night, said Ashwani Kumar, secretary to Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.

Out of 640 special trains for migrants run across the country till Tuesday midnight, 262, or around 41 per cent, originated from Gujarat, ferrying 3.34 lakh people, Kumar said.