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A bus from Assam to Goa: State goes to lengths to bring stranded residents back
Goa residents stranded across the country were not concentrated to warrant special train services to bring them back, which presented a challenge to the state government.
Come Saturday evening, a bus will set off from Darjeeling in West Bengal with a sole passenger before picking up four from Kolkata for a 2,800 kilometre long journey back to Goa.
This exemplifies the difficulty faced by the Goa government in bringing back the stranded residents that are scattered across the country but not in large numbers to warrant booking of special trains being run by the Indian Railways.
Therefore, the government has begun dispatching buses both private and those run by the state transport corporation to bring stranded Goans home. The movement is being coordinated by the interstate movement cell set up for the purpose.
So the bus mentioned above was dispatched to West Bengal earlier this week and arrived in Darjeeling on Friday to pick up a single passenger from a place near Assam border before heading to Kolkata on Saturday to pick up four others for a journey from one edge of the country to the other.
Another bus has left Goa for Baleshwar (Balasore), Orissa.
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More than 6,200 persons have asked for assistance to return home. While most evacuation trips are of a shorter duration and involve bringing back students from Kerala or neighbouring Karnataka, the Kadamba Transport Corporation buses have travelled even to Udaipur in Rajasthan and Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh to bring back stranded residents. The latter was an exchange trip in which students of the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Delhi were dropped and JNV students from Goa picked up from Ratlam-- identified as the midpoint for the exchange.
“The movement of buses is planned judiciously in consultation with nodal officials of different states,” the state government said in a statement.
“Once they register on the Goa government portal, those wishing to be brought back are informed through SMS/calls by the control room once the travel plan for a particular destination is finalised,” the state government said.
Besides this, over the last week, 15 buses have brought back 241 people from Kerala (Kasargod), Karnataka (Mangluru, Bengaluru, Belgaum,Hubli, Dharwad, Khanapur, Jamboti and Gadag), Maharashtra (Navi Mumbai, Pune), Gujarat (Ahmedabad,Vadodara and Surat), Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
“Driving a Volvo is relaxing. However, crossing the state borders, changing routes due to blockages in Red Zones, waiting in long queues for several security checks was hectic. This will be indeed an unforgettable experience,” Savlo Parab, 55, a driver of the KTCL who drove to Ratlam, said.
The journeys are fraught with risk as was evidenced when a Goa bound bus that was returning from Chennai via Bengaluru met with an accident injuring 21 passengers on board after the driver allegedly dozed off at 4:30 am in Gadag, Karnataka.
However, the Goa government is confident its efforts are worth it.
“Today, I am proud and feel more responsible. The government has arranged the trip well. Each person was provided with masks and sanitizers, food and other essentials. We did not halt anywhere except for food. Their zeal to be in their motherland was also a constant motivation for us,” Mahesh Khanolkar, 45, another driver said.
