Mumbai: After deaths of migrant labourers were reported on the special Shramik trains over the past few days, the Ministry of Railways on Friday issued an advisory asking people with co-morbidities to avoid travelling through the trains, unless necessary.
The statement read, "Indian Railways has been running Shramik special Trains on a daily basis throughout the country to ensure that migrants can travel back to their homes. It has been observed that some people who are availing this service have pre-existing medical conditions which aggravate the risk they face during the COVID-19 pandemic. A few unfortunate cases of deaths related to pre-existing medical conditions while travelling have happened."
"In order to protect the vulnerable persons from COVID-19, in line with Ministry of Home Affairs, Order No 40-3/2020-DM-I(A) dated 17.05.2020, Ministry of Railways makes an appeal that persons with co-morbidities (for example - hypertension, diabetes, cardio-vascular diseases, cancer, immune deficiency conditions), pregnant women, children below the age of 10 years and persons above 65 years of age may avoid travel by rail, except when it is essential," it further stated.
Sharing the helpline numbers 138 and 139, the Railways also urged people to reach out to the authorities in case of any distress or emergency.
Meanwhile, the Centre on Thursday told the Supreme Court that from May 1 to May 27 it has run 3700 Shramik Special trains and transported over 50 lakh migrants to different states.
In photos: Migrant workers continue to take risky journey back home
As India reports the highest jump in COVID-19 cases in a single day, migrant workers who are stranded in Maharashtra are desperate to return home. Many have opted to ditch the government's complicated and time consuming procedure to return home, and have begun walking home. With no food, footwear, let alone money in their pockets, the long road back home is a risky one. Photo by Satyajit Desai/MMCLThe Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) has also launched 300 bus services to drop migrant workers, especially those who set out on foot, at the state border along Madhya Pradesh. "The MSRTC has been running some bus services from Nashik, Pune and Mumbai for labourers who are walking on roads. We have decided to drop them at least at the Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh border to ease some of their travel woes," a MSRTC official said. Photo by Satyajit Desai/MMCLKarnataka Police's Internal Security Division (ISD) is in the process of contacting each and every registered migrant labourer to arrange a train ride back home. "A control room in the ISD is working 24x7 to reach out to each and every migrant registered on the Seva Sindhu app to make arrangements for the train journey," P.S. Sandhu, Additional Director General of Police, ISD, told IANS. Photo by Raju Shelar/MMCLMigrant workers wait it out in Wadala while following social distancing norms, under the scorching heat. Photo by Deepak Turbhekar/MMCLAbout 42,000 migrant workers have been ferried to their native towns so far from Maharashtra alone. "As many as 35 trains have left so far from various parts of Maharashtra carrying nearly 42,000 migrant labourers back to their home states. The number will jump in the coming days, thanks to the Indian Railways' decision to run more trains for migrant workers," a state Home department official said. Photo by Nilesh Wairkar/MMCLAs ST bus services began solely to transfer migrants, the initiative faced backlash. People questioned why the service was not available for those who want to move out of the state and later follow quarantine norms. Transport Commissioner Shekhar Channe reiterated that ST services will only ply for migrants. “The ST buses will drop the migrants at the state borders and bring back people of Maharashtra who are stuck at the borders. There is no decision regarding plying buses for inter-state transport,” he said. Photo by Raju Shelar/MMCLSpecial trains continue to operate to transport migrant workers to their native towns. Besides these Shramik trains, under a new plan, about 15 pairs of special trains (30 in all) will ply on certain Rajdhani routes, including Mumbai Central-New Delhi, Thiruvananthapuram -New Delhi and Madgoan-New Delhi. Following this initiative, new guidelines have been issued. Photo by Nilesh Wairkar/MMCLThe Indian Railways has claimed that over five lakh migrant labourers have been brought to their respective states with the help of over 450 'shramik special trains'. "We have run more than 450 'shramik special trains' and brought over 5 lakh migrants to their respective states. Our target is to run more than 100 trains a day and we will achieve it," Railways Executive Director RD Bajpai told ANI. Photo by Nilesh Wairkar/MMCLBut the struggle does not end upon boarding the train. A group of migrant labourers who left Mumbai for their native village in MP's Gonda are now being forced to spend their quarantine period in an open field. "From Mumbai till Gonda it took us about 10 days. We had come here hoping to live in our safe homes amid the coronavirus outbreak and lockdown. However, upon reaching here the villagers have shut the doors on us. They say we bring coronavirus," Ram Tirath Yadav, a labourer, told ANI. Photo by Raju Shinde/MMCLThe Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear a petition filed by lawyer Alakh Alok Srivastava, seeking instruction to the Union of India to identify and transport each stranded labourer to his or her home in a dignified manner. The petition was filed after 16 migrant workers lost their lives in a train accident in Aurangabad. Srivastava questioned that despite the Supreme Court's earlier direction in his petition, why no concrete action has been taken to avert the heartwrenching train accident, which took place on May 8, 2020, at Gadhejalgaon village in Aurangabad district in Maharashtra, near Karmad station. Photo by Raju Shinde/MMCLIn the midst of confusion as to making daily wage earners pay for their tickets, the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) on Monday said that till now 27,865 people have been sent to their home states free of cost. "After the migrant labourers were registered at the district level, the Congress paid the cost of the tickets of these people. Till now 27,865 workers have been sent back to their native states," the MPCC said in an official statement. Photo by Sachin Haralkar/MMCLWhile a majority of migrant workers return to Uttar Pradesh, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that the huge influx of daily wage earners coming into the state was a "challenge" for the government. Tackling the issue, he added that the government is dealing with it effectively by launching a scheme of initiatives for them. "So far, Uttar Pradesh has sent more than nine lakh workers to home quarantine. Out of this, seven lakh workers have completed their home quarantine. We are preparing to give them jobs," an official spokesman quoted the CM as saying. Photo by Raju Shinde/MMCLThe Home Ministry had asked the Indian Railways to begin running at least 100 special trains a day for the next few weeks. The move was discussed to ensure that all migrant workers return to their native towns safely. "It was emphasised that at least 100 trains should be run daily for the next few weeks to ensure return of migrant labourers," Home Ministry Joint Secretary Punya Salila Srivastava said. Photo by Sachin Haralkar/MMCLThe Centre, later the same day, took the decision and asked states to ensure that migrant workers can avail the facility. Hoping to prevent hundreds of stranded daily wage workers trekking back to their hometowns, the Maharashtra government also announced the lauch of free bus services to the borders of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. About 468 special trains have operated since May 1. Photo by Sachin Haralkar/MMCL
