Over 15,000 migrants head home on Shramik trains from Ludhiana

Most migrants who arrived at Government College for Girls ground here were seen flouting social distancing norms while queuing up for medical screening and collecting eatables before boarding the special trains to reach Uttar Pradesh and Bihar

Around 15,000 migrants boarded eight Shramik Special trains from Ludhiana railway station on Thursday.

Migrants getting themselves registered to board a Shramik train from Ludhiana railway on Thursday. (GURPREET SINGH/HT)

Most migrants who arrived at Government College for Girls here were seen flouting social distancing norms while queuing up for medical screening and collecting eatables before boarding the special trains to reach Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Vikram, a migrant worker, said, “I reached the college ground at 2pm to be able to board the Madepur train for Gorakpur at 5.45pm. We were asked to stand in a queue and after two hours of waiting, we were given medical certificates and eatables before taking the train. I hope to reach home by tomorrow. For the last two months, I was jobless and was waiting for the day to return home.”

Special trains such as for Nawada (having stoppages at Lucknow, Aurangabad and Rohatas) departed at 12 noon, for Jamui (stoppages at Sultanpur, Babua and Aurangabad) at 2pm, for Supaul (with stoppages at Saharsa, Begusarai and Hajipur) at 4pm, for Madepura (stoppages at Gorakhpur, Saharsa, Khagria) at 5.45pm, for Patna (stoppages at Jaunpur, Hardoi and Baxar) at 7.30pm, for Nalanda (stoppages at Bareilly, Chhapra and Patna) at 9.15pm, and for Mirzapur (stoppages at Itawa, Fatehpur and Prayagraj) at 11pm. Each train carries around 1,600 migrants.

Deputy commissioner Pradeep Kumar Agrawal has informed that the migrants who want to travel to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar can come directly to Guru Nanak Stadium at 10am on May 29 for registration. The district administration will then raise demand for more trains as per their numbers, Agrawal added.

He said for the last 24 days, several trains carrying migrants have departed for UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and other states from the city station.

So far, around 3 lakh migrants have left for their hometowns on 194 special trains from Ludhiana.