E-Paper
First special train for stranded migrant labourers departs from Pune to Rewa
The train carrying 1,173 passengers will reach the destination on Friday at 11 am
The first special Shramik train from Pune for stranded migrant workers ran from Urli railway station, under the Pune railway division, on Thursday evening. The train scheduled at 5pm left the station at 6.40pm for Rewa railway station in Madhya Pradesh. The train carrying 1,173 passengers will reach the destination on Friday at 11 am. Rewa is 400 km northeast of Bhopal, the state’s capital.
Pune district collector Naval Kishore Ram and Pune rural police superintendent Sandeep Patil flagged-off the train.
Migrant workers from across Pune district who had registered for going back to their native villages were brought in private and Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) buses to Urli railway station, 50km from Pune railway station.
They were first accommodated in classrooms of Mahatma Gandhi Vidyalaya School located opposite to the railway station, before being brought to the station in a line. The passengers included labourers, children, women and the elderly.
Railway Protection Force (RPF), Government Railway Police (GRP), Pune rural police and State Reserve Police Force ensured that the passengers maintained social distancing norms while entering the platform number one of the station. Aadhaar card and body temperature of each passenger was checked before being allowed to go to respective coaches.
The train journey time is 18 hours and will run on end-to-end basis and there will be no commercial halt en route. The train has seating capacity of 1,100 passengers with coach having a capacity of 72 seats, but only 54 passengers were allowed in each coach as per social distancing norms. The meals for Thursday night were given by the Maharashtra state government while breakfast for Friday will be given by the railways.
Rajesh Hiralal Saket, who is travelling with his group of nine family members, said, “We were working in a company at Ranjangaon MIDC and had registered to go back. Today morning we got a call to be prepared for train journey and at 11am buses came to pick us up. We are from Narayani village in Rewa district and the last two months were very difficult for us to survive. I will never come back to Pune now and seek job in a nearby village.”
Budha Sen, who was travelling with his wife and five-year-old son, said, “We were happy to get the call about our travel arrangements. I know life will be hard back in the village, but it was getting difficult to find livelihood in Pune. With no work and no income, we had to depend on NGOs and private organisations for food every day.”
Ram said, “We are happy that we could send people back to their hometowns with proper safety measures. All our officials, Pune railway division, police department and other departments put in a lot of effort to make it a success. We will send all those stranded people who are willing to go back to their native places by all possible transport modes.”
