Train to take 1,188 stranded migrants from Mohali to UP

Passengers will be provided free packaged food during the non-stop journey to Hardoi; train will run for 20 days

The first train to take stranded migrants from Mohali to Hardoi in Uttar Pradesh (UP) will start from the Mohali railway station at 10am on Thursday with 1,188 passengers.

Preparations in full swing to send stranded migrants to their native places via trains at the Mohali railway station on Wednesday. (Gurminder Singh/HT)

Disclosing this, deputy commissioner Girish Dayalan said, “The train, comprising a total of 22 bogies with 54 passengers in each, has been started as per the consent of the UP government and will not stop anywhere in-between. The passengers will be provided free packaged food during the journey. All expenses will be borne by the government.”

Dayalan said the train will run for 20 days. “More trains can be added as per the requirement. The schedule will be intimated to the passengers via SMS,” he said.

The passengers who get registered at the online portal are informed by SMS to report at one of the eight collection centres in the district for screening.

Dayalan said those wanting to go back to their home states can apply on covidhelp.punjab.gov.in. The registered passengers are informed by SMS to report at one of the eight collection centres in the district for screening. This SMS also serves as the ticket for the passenger. Then they will board the buses to the railway station, said Dayalan while appealing to the passengers not to go the railway station directly because the boarding would be strictly as per the messages they receive. “These messages should not be forwarded or shared with others as these will be verified at the collection centres,” said Dayalan reiterating that there is no need to panic and that all those who have applied on the portal will be sent home.