Took urgent steps to dispose bodies: Delhi govt to HC
SCALED BACK Admin says decision in view of reduction in number of migrants seeking to go home
NEW DELHI: The Delhi government on Friday told the high court it had taken urgent steps to ensure there was no delay in the disposal of the bodies of patients who died of Covid-19 or were suspected to have died of the disease. The HC, on Thursday, took suo motu cognisance of bodies piling up in Covid-19 mortuaries and filed a public interest litigation that quoted a May 28 HT report detailing how all 80 storage racks at a Covid-19 mortuary were full.
GHAZIABAD: The Ghaziabad administration has decided to suspend the operations of Shramik special trains and buses, saying that the number of migrant workers who arrive in the city from Delhi and other NCR towns every day has now considerably reduced.
Officials said that only about 400 to 500 migrant workers were left on Friday in different shelter homes in the city.
Since early May, hundreds, at times thousands, of migrant workers had been reaching Ghaziabad’s Ghanta Ghar Ramlila Maidan to secure boarding passes for the special trains to their homes in Bihar and other districts of Uttar Pradesh amid the Covid-19 lockdown.
“A total of 31 special trains have departed from Ghaziabad railway station. The last train departed on May 24. These trains went to different cities in Bihar and UP. The operation of such trains have been stopped for now due to the fact that very few migrant workers are now coming to Ghaziabad. We are planning for a train to West Bengal on Saturday,” said Santosh Kumar Vaishya, additional district magistrate (executive).
According to official estimates, these trains and buses have so far ferried about 170,000 migrant workers to different cities in UP and Bihar.
The officials said that on an average a special train carried about 1,200 to 1,300 passengers.
The first train from Ghaziabad left for Bihar on May 15, they said.
Apart from the 31 trains, the UP State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) also shared a major contribution in ferrying 131,627 migrant workers in 4,671 buses which left from different depots of Ghaziabad, Kaushambi, Loni, Sahibabad, Hapur, Sikandrabad and Bulandshahr, all falling under UPSRTC’S Ghaziabad region.
The UPSRTC ran the buses for migrants from May 1 to May 28.
“We operated the buses till May 28. Now the operations have been halted, as migrant workers have stopped coming. Only a few are left. Once the number of migrants for a particular route increases, we will despatch more buses. Nine of our buses dropped migrant workers to Uttarakhand border on May 28, while one bus also left for Bihar,” said AK Singh, regional manager of the staterun UPSRTC.
“Besides, one of our buses ferried a group of 12 students from Manipur. A bus with the students on board also started from Manipur and both buses met midway near Purulia, West Bengal, and exchanged students. Then both buses went back to their origination point,” he added.
Meanwhile, on Friday, some migrant workers reached Morta in Ghaziabad and found no buses or trains to their home towns.
“I came here on foot and found no mode of transport in operation on Friday. My relatives left for my home town from Delhi about a fortnight ago. I waited for work to start and hoped I will get some money. But my employer refused to lend me money. Finally, I reached Morta on Friday morning in hope that I will get some train or a bus to reach my home town,” said Tilak Ram, a migrant worker from Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh, who was part of the cleaning staff at a restaurant in Delhi’s Rajouri Garden.
“The officials told me that there is no bus at the moment, but they will arrange it in a day or two,” he said.
Meanwhile, state officials said that all the migrants who wish to return to UP will be brought through trains and buses, and will be sent to their home towns for free.
“The chief minster has asked the chief secretary to get in touch with chief secretaries of different states to provide a list of migrant workers who are still left and can be brought back home,” said Awanish Awasthi, Uttar Pradesh’s additional chief secretary (home).
According to official figures, about 2.35 million people have come to the state through trains and buses while about 450,000 have come to Uttar Pradesh border areas through their own means.
The officials said that about 1,531 trains have already arrived in Uttar Pradesh from different states and the tally is expected to touch 1,557 trains in a day or two.
› A total of 31 special trains have departed from Ghaziabad railway station. The last train departed on May 24. These trains went to different cities in Bihar and UP. The operation of such trains has been stopped for now as very few migrants are now arriving in Ghaziabad. SANTOSH KUMAR VAISHYA, additional district magistrate (executive).