3.86 lakh migrant workers left Maha in 12K buses, 191 trains: State govt
The state government on Saturday said that around 3.86 lakh migrant workers had returned to their home states from Maharashtra through 191 trains and around 12,000 buses.
The state also informed that the Bihar and West Bengal governments were earlier not willing to take back the workers who hailed from the two states. However, after talks with the respective state leaderships, Bihar and West Bengal agreed for the migrants’ return, following which the first Shramik Special train for West Bengal left from Mumbai on Saturday morning.
Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh said that the state government has sent 2.45 lakh migrant workers to their respective states through 191 trains so far.
“Only two states, West Bengal and Bihar, were not ready to take back their workers. Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and NCP [Nationalist Congress Party] chief Sharad Pawar personally spoke to Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, after which the issue was resolved,” Deshmukh said.
The home minister added that the crowd of stranded migrant workers can be controlled if around 10 trains leave for Bihar and West Bengal everyday.
Deshmukh also said that the state government is bearing the cost of the train tickets to ferry the migrants home, as Thackeray had approved funds worth
1,463 MIGRANTS LEAVE FOR BIHAR
More than 1,400 migrants from Bihar boarded the Shramik Special train from Kalyan railway station on Saturday evening at 3.50pm to Gaya district.
“The train was scheduled for 2pm, but the journey was delayed because of the screening process. Hence, the train departed at 3.50pm
₹54.40 crore from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.
Meanwhile, the chief minister’s office, in a press release, said that the state has sent 1.41 lakh migrant workers to Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka on 11,798 state transport (ST) buses.
Twenty-five trains operate with 1,463 passengers to Gaya in Bihar,” a railway official said.
Passengers who registered for the train came from Kalyan, Dombivli, Ulhasnagar, Ambernath, Badlapur and Karjat. “The passengers were accommodated ensuring social distancing norms,” the official said.
from Maharashtra everyday to take back migrant workers to their home states.
Most number of trains (117) had departed from various stations across the state for Uttar Pradesh, followed by Bihar (26), Madhya Pradesh (21), Rajasthan (9), Odisha (7), Jharkhand (5), Karnataka (3), Jammu (2) and Andhra Pradesh (1).