Covid-19 lockdown: Telangana to run 40 trains a day for a week from today to ferry migrant workers

The Telangana cabinet will meet on Tuesday to take a call on the extension of Covid-19 lockdown till May 17, as decided by the Centre, or even beyond.

The railways will run 40 special trains form Telangana to various destinations to ferry migrant labourers to their respective native places during the Covid-19 lockdown. The decision has been taken at the request of Telangana government.

Passengers travel in a special train from Lingampalli (Hyderabad) to Hatia (Jharkhand) on May 1.(ANI Photo)

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) on Monday night instructed officials to organise travel of migrant labours on behalf of the state government.

The trains would run from various stations in Hyderabad, apart from Warangal, Khammam, Damaracharla and other places in the state. They would go to Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and other states, an official release said.

“The chief minister spoke to South Central Railway general manager Gajanan Mallya and requested him to arrange for 40 special trains from Tuesday,” the release said.

At a meeting on Monday, KCR discussed at length the problems faced by the migrant workers and their growing impatience over the extended lockdown. Thousands of migrant workers from various states have been making attempts to leave for their native place, despite lockdown restrictions.

After the Railway authorities operated a one-off special train from Lingampallin on the outskirts of Hyderabad to Hatia in Jharkhand for 1,200 migrant workers last week, demands have been pouring in from other migrant labourers for similar arrangements.

The Telangana government appointed senior IAS officer Sandeep Sultania and senior IPS officer Jitendra as special officers to oversee the travel of migrant workers to their native States.

“Migrant workers who have already registered their names with the local police stations to leave for their native places, would be allowed to travel by the special trains. The details of the travel will be given at the police stations,” the official release said.

KCR appealed to the migrant labourers to not feel anxious as the government had made arrangements for their travel to their native destinations. He instructed the police officers concerned to inform the migrant workers about the travel details and coordinate with them.

Meanwhile, the Telangana cabinet will meet on Tuesday to take a call on the extension of lockdown till May 17, as decided by the Centre, or even beyond. It would also discuss on the relaxations given by the Centre to various sectors in the green and orange zones.

The health department officials told KCR that most of the Covid-19 positive cases and deaths were more in Hyderabad and its neighbouring three districts of Ranga Reddy, Medchal and Vikarabad and hence there was a need to further tighten and implement lockdown in these districts.

So far, the total number of Covid-19 positive cases in Telangana is 1,085 of which 585 persons have been discharged, 29 died and 471 are under treatment. Of the total cases, 717 (66.08 per cent) belong to these four districts and among those dead, 82.21 per cent belongs to these four districts. For the past 10 days, the highest number of cases reported from these districts only, officials said.

The officials requested the chief minister to not give any relaxations in these districts. “Continue lockdown as it is, if need be, more strictly,” they said.

They said the cases in other districts have decreased and the number of containment zones has also been reduced.