86,863 migrant workers sent home

70 special Shramik trains operated

Seventy special Shramik trains were operated from the State to send home around 86,863 stranded migrant labourers from various other States till Monday (May 25).

In a statement, State coordinator for COVID-19 M.T. Krishna Babu said 464 buses were used to send 15,730 migrant labourers, who were going by walk, to their native States.

Food and relief camps were arranged at every 20-km distance on National Highways to cater to the scores of migrant workers who started walking to reach home and 118 food points (dhabas) were arranged — Krishna (10), Guntur (10), Anantapur (10), Nellore (7), Kurnool (9), Srikakulam (6), Vizianagaram (6), West Godavari (18), Kadapa (6), Prakasam (10), Chittoor (12), East Godavari (5), and Visakhapatnam (9).

He said between May 16 and May 25, 37,779 migrant workers were shifted to relief centres. Of them, 36,270 were sent to their native places in buses belonging to the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) and trains till May 16. There were 1,509 of them in the relief camps now, he added.

Review meet

Mr. Krishna Babu said a review meeting with the Joint Collectors was held on Monday (May 25) to assess further requirement of the special trains. In view of the gradual beginning of activity, many migrant labourers who had registered earlier to go back to their States were now dropping out as they wanted to continue in the State.

Speaking about the next few days schedule, he said one train was required to be operated from Chittoor to Bihar, two from Vijayawada and Chittoor to Odisha and three trains from Guntur, Prakasam and Eluru to West Bengal.