First come, first served, says admin as migrants disallowed from boarding trains to Bihar

A group of 40-50 migrants, who had registered themselves on the e-Disha portal to return to their home towns in Bihar, were unable to board relief trains, after

A group of 40-50 migrants, who had registered themselves on the e-Disha portal to return to their home towns in Bihar, were unable to board relief trains, after they were denied entry into the Tau Devi Lal Stadium, where they were asked to gather by the district administration through an SMS. The workers who could not board the train on Thursday were allowed to enter the Tau Devi Lal Stadium at 5pm, given food and told by the administration that they would be sent to Bihar on Friday.

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Officials at the District Development Panchayat Office (DDPO), the nodal authority to register migrants’ details on the portal, said the facility is being run on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. They said that the train was able to accommodate only 1,200 people, against an expected 1,600, but assured that all those who have registered on the portal would be sent home.

Railways officials denied that a train with lower-than-expected capacity was sent to the Gurugram railway station. “The train to Khagaria had a capacity of 1,600 passengers, but 1,200 had boarded the train as proper social distance was maintained,” said a senior Gurugram Railways official, on the condition of anonymity.

Officials said that trains were sent to Bihar on Wednesday and Thursday, carrying 2,800 passengers in total, with another scheduled for departure on Friday. So far, around 100,000 migrants from Bihar have registered with the state government for returning to their home towns.

Discussing the situation at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium on Thursday morning, district development panchayat officer Narender Sarwan said, “Entry was not given to those people who had come at 5am because the capacity of people who could be sent home had reached the maximum number. How can we take 2,000 people when the capacity of the train is 1,200? We will make sure that those who have been left behind will also go to their home towns.”

Manoj Kumar, who had come to Gurugram in March in search of a livelihood, was spotted crying when he was not allowed to enter the stadium. “I came to the stadium at 5am, but I was not allowed to go inside it despite having received a message to board the train on Thursday,” said Kumar.

After the doors of the stadium closed, the migrants took shelter on a non-motorised track near the Medanta underpass.

Sajjan Kumar, who had accompanied Manoj Kumar, was also denied entry into the stadium. “I don’t have any place to go now. After I had received the SMS to come to Tau Devi Lal Stadium, I left the room in Bhim Nagar. Now, I don’t have any place to go,” said Sajjan Kumar.

District administration officials said they check the credentials and body temperature of each person before they are allowed to board the train. The temperature of migrant workers is checked before they board the train, said a district administration official.

Railway officials said that two trains left from Gurugram on Thursday — one to Khagaria in Bihar and the other to Maharaja Chhatrasal Station Chhatarpur in Madhya Pradesh.

Sunil Sachdeva, the chief ticket inspector, said, “No fare was charged from the migrant workers who had boarded the train and everyone will get meals during the trip.”