Chandigarh, May 22, 2020: After curfew was lifted and lockdown guidelines were relaxed, migrants who were earlier keen to return to their states have started having second thoughts and many have decided to stay.
Today, a Shramik Special Train with 1,237 Persons departed at 03.25 PM for Motihari (East Champaran) in Bihar.
One day before the scheduled departure of the train, telephone calls were made to registered persons asking them to reach the holding centre for medical screening before boarding the special train.
However, out of the 3500 persons who were contacted by the administration, 1,549 persons gave their consent to return but finally only 1,237 persons turned up at the holding centre, well below the train capacity of 1,600.
It has been observed that after opening of industrial and commercial units, a considerable number of migrant labour is not interested to move out.
Tomorrow, a Shramik Special Train is scheduled to depart at 02.00 PM for Gaya in Bihar and Dhanbad in Jharkhand.
Total 3,403 persons have been contacted and out of them only 1,602 have given their consent for taking the train for Bihar tomorrow.
The other trains which left Chandigarh were:
• Today i.e. 22.05.2020, total 14 Migrant Labours of Sikkim were also sent through a Shramik Special Train. The Chandigarh Administration also co-ordinated journey of 239 Migrant Labours of Sikkim from other states like Punjab, Himachal and Uttarakhand by the same Shramik Special Train destined to New Jalpaigudi Station. All these 253 persons will reach Sikkim by buses from New Jalpaigudi Railway Station.
• Yesterday i.e. 21.05.2020 in the late evening, total 138 Migrant Labours of Chhattisgarh were sent to Dehradun by Special Buses. From Dehradun their journey has been arranged through a Shramik Special Train to Chhattisgarh scheduled for today i.e. on 22.05.2020.