Around 10,000 migrants being sent daily to UP towns from Delhi, say officials

NOIDA: Around 10,000 migrants including daily wage earners, students, factory workers and others are being transported everyday to their respective home towns in

NOIDA: Around 10,000 migrants including daily wage earners, students, factory workers and others are being transported everyday to their respective home towns in eastern Uttar Pradesh cities from Delhi, officials of Gautam Budh Nagar have said. The state government is ferrying these migrants via trains. So far, it has transported 81,000 migrants from Delhi to UP’s eastern districts. These migrants were working either with factories, private firms, at construction sites or engaged in other jobs in Delhi, said officials.

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On Saturday, officials managed to send 8000 migrants with the help of seven trains, they said.

“We sent 9,000 migrants, including students, on Friday on eight trains, which travelled from Delhi to Hardoi, Lucknow, Sultanpur, Jaunpur and Gazipur among other cities. We register migrants one day in advance and then transport them the very next day to their respective towns,” said Narendra Bhooshan, chief executive officer of the Greater Noida authority, who is the nodal officer for transportation of migrants from Delhi to UP.

Anyone from UP, who is stranded in the national Capital and wants to register to go home, can call and get themselves registered with the following Greater Noida helpline numbers: 0120-2336001, 2336002, 2336003, 2336007 and 8920827174.

Officials said that initially, these helplines were deployed in helping stranded migrants get food, medicine and other essential services in Delhi. Now, after the UP government decided to transport them to their respective home towns, these helplines have been deployed to help them register for transport and go home.

With these helplines the facility is helping an average 10,000 people daily since May 16, when this service was started, said Bhooshan.

Till May 22, the state government had transported a total of 73,000 migrants to their respective towns, Bhooshan added. This number, however, does not include migrants who are walking to their home towns or villages on foot or those who managed to board trucks.

Officials said dedicated helplines have been launched for migrants stuck in different states and operations are underway to transport all of them home. Besides UP, the Delhi government also arranged buses to send migrants home to ensure they do not risk their lives while walking hundreds of kilometres home, said officials.