23 passengers from Maharashtra test positive

Around 23 passengers who arrived from Mumbai have tested positive at the Patna railway junction and the Jaya Prakash Narain international airport here

Around 23 passengers who arrived from Mumbai have tested positive at the Patna railway junction and the Jaya Prakash Narain international airport here.

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Seventeen of the 655 train passengers tested positive after reaching Patna on board the special Kurla-Patna Express early Friday morning, said Dr Vibha Kumari Singh, Patna’s civil surgeon.

Six air passengers, who came from Mumbai, also tested positive at the airport on Thursday.

“The infected train passengers were initially taken to the Covid care centre, set up at the Hotel Patliputra Ashok, for isolation. After screening and documentation, they were given the option to avail of government isolation facility or isolate themselves at home,” said Dr Singh.

The passengers were tested for Covid-19 through rapid antigen kits.

This was the first of the special trains to reach the state capital from Maharashtra after what is seen as the second wave of coronavirus disease (Covid-19). The train had other passengers, along with migrant workers on board, said a senior officer of the East Central Railways.

Last year, the railways had operated Shramik special trains between May and July for ferrying migrant workers. The trains had brought around 24 lakh migrant workers to Bihar from different parts of India.

The railways are operating 16 special trains to Bihar from Maharashtra. In addition, it will operate three more special trains to Darbhanga, Patna and Danapur in the wake of rising Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra.

Most of the passengers who returned from Mumbai were either daily wage workers or worked in some factory and were compelled to return home after they failed to get work in view of increase in Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra. “Work has stopped following lockdown. It is better to be at home rather than to stay in Mumbai without work,” said Mohammaed Aftab, a mason from Siwan. “I was lucky to get a ticket. Many others want to return apprehending complete lockdown,” he said, adding that this time it was a smooth journey back to Patna.

Thousands of people from dozens of villages in Purnia, Araria, Katihar and Kishanganj are in Mumbai. “Many have returned and others are returning,” Raman Kumar Jha, a resident of Jahanpur village in Araria, said.

Md Firoz (30), a resident of Amour in Purnia, however, said the situation is not so bad. “I have just returned from Mumbai by special train for some urgent personal work and will return to Mumbai soon,” he said.

Migrant labourers, who had gone to Punjab for harvesting, have also started returning. “Migrant workers are now returning from Punjab by trains and buses after wheat harvesting,” Shanichar Rishi, a ward member of Dagarua, said.

Trains back home

Last year

Railways had operated Shramik special trains between May and July for ferrying migrant workers, bringing home around 24 lakh of them from different parts of India.

This year

Railways is operating 16 special trains to Bihar from Maharashtra, which is witnessing the highest number of Covid-19 cases in what’s being called the second wave.