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‘Don’t panic’: Jharkhand CM assures others as state’s migrant workers take train from Telangana
The Centre has been under pressure from states for deploying special trains to ferry migrants and students stranded across the nation due to the lockdown.
Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren on Friday told residents from his state who are stranded in other parts of the country that his government will bring them back even as more than 1000 migrant workers took a train back home from Telangana.
A special train was operated by the ministry of railways for the migrant labourers from Jharkhand who have been stranded in Telangana amid the Covid-19 lockdown. The “one-off special train” was run early on Friday morning on the request of the Telangana government, South Central Railway chief spokesperson Ch Rakesh said.
“I assure all students, migrant workers and other people stranded in other states amid COVID-19 lockdown that our administration will soon contact you and help you in coming back to the state. Don’t panic,” Hemant Soren said, according to news agency ANI.
The train, which left from Lingampalli in Telangana to Hatia in Jharkhand at 4:50am is ferrying nearly 1,200 migrants, all residents of Jharkhand. They were stranded at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Hyderabad campus at Kandi in Sangareddy district due to the lockdown.
India is under a nation-wide lockdown, which was imposed on March 25 and later extended on April 14 to May 3, to stem the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
The Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) had on Wednesday allowed the movement of the stranded people, including migrant labourers, workers, students, tourists, and issued guidelines for their travel.
Railway Protection Force (RPF) director-general Arun Kumar said that a decision on more such trains could be taken later on Friday.
The Centre has been under pressure from states for deploying special trains to ferry migrants and students stranded across the nation due to the lockdown.
According to state estimates, about 10 million migrant labourers are stranded across the country.
Other states such as opposition-ruled Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Kerala have also asked the Centre to deploy special trains. Bihar, where the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (United) are in the ruling coalition, has also put in a similar request.
