Telangana has sent 20,000 migrants home

HYDERABAD: With four more trains running from the state in the early hours of Friday to Bihar and Jharkhand, carrying around 4,000 migrant workers from Ghatkesar and Lingampalli, around 20,000 migrant workers have been transported from the state through Shramik special trains till now.
“On May 7 alone, 12,803 stranded migrant workers reached their destination locations across Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra from the state.Over 2,000 migrant workers travelling to Rajasthan and Bhopal reached safely on Friday” informed a South Central Railway (SCR) official.
Among the four trains running from the state on Friday, two trains started from Ghatkesar to Chapra in Bihar and Katia in Uttarakhand; the other two trains started from Lingampalli towards Bhagalpur in Bihar and Dhanbad in Jharkhand.
“We started running Shramik special trains from May 1 following directions by the state government to move migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and other persons stranded at different locations due to the lockdown,” he added.
SCR informed that these Shramik special trains running from the state have been paid for by the state government. Provision of facilities ranging from thermal screening, food, and water before the commencement of journey is also being taken care of by the state.
Senior railway officials said that workers from Telangana stranded in the states the trains are travelling to can make use of the trains on the return journey, if the state allows.
“Being specially contracted services, most trains have returned empty, but if both the states are on-board, we can bring people on the return journey of the trains as well,” informed officials.
They added that on Friday, one train brought back 225 workers from Bihar to Hyderabad.