48 lakh migrants reach home by 'Shramik' special trains

NEW DELHI, May 27: Around 48 lakh stranded migrant labourers and others have reached their home states through 3543 "Shramik" special trains started on May 1, 255 of which originated only on Tuesday. They, however, constitute only 10% of around 4-5 crore migrant labourers stranded in various states without jobs because of the shutdown in the wake of the coronavirus-induced Lockdowns.
All of them were distributed more than 78 lakh free meals and more than 1.10 crore water bottles, the Railways said on Wednesday.
In addition to Shramik specials, Railways are running 15 pairs of special fully air-conditioned trains connecting New Delhi from May 12 and plans to start 200 more time tabled trains on June 1.
Top five States from where maximum trains originated are Gujarat (946 Trains), Maharashtra (677 Trains), Punjab (377 Trains), Uttar Pradesh (243 Trains) and Bihar (215 Trains). Top five states where maximum trains terminated are Uttar Pradesh (1392 Trains), Bihar(1123 Trains), Jharkhand (156 Trains), Madhya Pradesh(119 Trains), Odisha (123 Trains).