E-Paper
Punjab’s second Shramik Special train leaves from Ludhiana for Prayagraj with 900 migrants
Brought to the Ludhiana ISBT in buses from various pick-up points; sent to railway station after medical screening
After the first Shramik Special train from Punjab departed for Jharkhand from Jalandhar on Tuesday morning, the second train, carrying 900 migrants, left for Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh at 10.15pm from the Ludhiana railway station.
The district administration ran 43 buses to board the passengers from different pick-up points across Ludhiana. They were brought to Amar Shaheed Sukhdev Interstate Bus Terminal in Ludhiana, where after medical screening, they were granted fitness certificates and taken to the railway station in the same buses.
The train Ludhiana-Prayagraj Shramik Express (04606) comprised 22 coaches. It departed from Ludhiana at 10.15pm to reach its destination at 12.50pm on Wednesday.
Deputy commissioner (DC) Pradeep Kumar Agrawal said so far, 5.4 lakh migrants had registered on the Punjab Helpline Portal from Ludhiana to return home. Most of them were from Uttar Pradesh, followed by Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal, he added.
“Text messages were sent to 1,200 people willing to return to Uttar Pradesh, to reach the pick-up points. Of these 1,200, around 900 boarded the buses, while 300 decided to stay back,” the DC said.
Commissioner of police Rakesh Agrawal said, “We have set up 50 pick-up points in the district, of which 28 are within the city limits. Staff deployed in the buses checked the identity of the passengers as per the list.”
Train tickets were provided to the migrants in the buses while they were taken to the railway station in small batches. The TTEs deployed at the station checked the tickets and accommodated around 50 passengers in each coach having 70 seats.
RAILWAYS APPROACHED FOR MORE TRAINS
Agrawal said after approval from Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, they had placed requests with railways to run trains to Katni (Madhya Pradesh), Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh) and Daltonganj (Jharkhand) on Wednesday.
He appealed to the migrants not to believe in rumours, and not to reach the railway station directly as they won’t be allowed entry. “Migrants will be informed by the Ludhiana administration via text message about the bus pick-up point near their residence,” he added.
10 LAKH MIGRANTS REGISTER TO TRAVEL
Rapidly increasing by the day, the number of migrants registering on the Punjab Helpline Portal to travel to their home states touched 10.8 lakh on Tuesday.
Of these, 5.4 lakh have registered from Ludhiana, followed by 1.13 lakh from Jalandhar; 88,887 from Mohali, 59,053 from Amritsar and 34,242 from Patiala, besides other districts.
