Noida: Many migrants unaware of special train facility
Noida:
Noida:
Even as the district administration is busy arranging for special trains to transport stranded migrants to their home towns in Bihar and other districts of Uttar Pradesh, a number of such workers were caught unaware of the facility on Monday.
According to officials, at least 8,498 migrants were sent to different destinations in Bihar through seven Shramik special trains from the city till Sunday.
However, several migrants claimed that they are not getting ration or food, and no one from the administration ever came to their area to tell about the transport facility.
“How would we know about the transportation facility? None of the officials has told us about it. We have been requesting since the lockdown started that either send us home or provide ration,” said Suman Kumar, a migrant worker from Bihar’s Samastipur district who is staying at Shahdara village in Noida Sector 141.
Suman who works as electrician said that none of the six families – all migrant workers from Bihar who live in the same rented building – had any clue about the special trains or how to register online for the same.
“As far as I know, not a single migrant from Shahdara village has boarded a train. No bus was sent to take us to the railway station,” said Munnu Kumar Singh, a migrant construction worker from Chhapra district in Bihar, who lives in Sector 141.
Ranjit Kumar, a native of Mahoba district in Uttar Pradesh, said he came to know about the train services only last week. However, he did not know how to register online for the service. Lucky for him, he got a job on Saturday at a local supermarket.
“Last week someone told me that the registration is going on for the trains. But I had no clue, neither did any one of our neighbours. This Saturday, I got a job at a local super market at Rs 6,000 per month. So I’m not leaving Noida now,” said Ranjit, a migrant worker who stays at Gheja village in Noida.
According to the officials, they have received over 80,000 registrations from migrant workers and the special trains are being arranged for the same.
“Special trains are leaving for Bihar since Saturday. Besides, special trains have been arranged for the workers from eastern UP as well. Today, first lot of migrants, over 4000, were sent to different districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh. Around 84,000 registrations have been received by us and we are arranging trains accordingly,” said Diwakar Singh, additional district magistrate (administration), Gautam Budh Nagar.
Migrants who want to go back home can register themselves online through the state government portals jansunawai.up.nic.in or tinyurl.com/pravasi-shramik-UP, the officials said. The other way is to approach different shelter homes where the police help them to get seats on the migrant special trains, they said.
“About 800 migrant workers were taken by the police to different shelter homes for screening on Monday, where they will be getting information about the train services. All these migrants either came from Delhi or were found walking on roads. The idea is to get everyone home. The migrants keep coming to the city, so it’s a rolling process,” said Nitin Tiwari, deputy commissioner of police (headquarters), Gautam Budh Nagar.
