Pune: After the harrowing journey of the migrants travelling on foot surfaced, the Railways came forward and took the responsibility of carrying them back to their native places. The Ministry of Railways started the Shramik Special Trains for migrants from May 1.
SHRAMIK SPECIAL TRAINS
According to Indian Railways, till now 542 Shramik Special Trains have been pressed into service and a total of 6.48 lakh labourers transported to their homes. The Pune railway division has run nine Shramik Special trains and carried around 12,000 passengers from Pune, Uruli, Miraj, Satara and Kolhapur.
According to the spokesperson of Pune railway division Manoj Jhawar, “The Shramik Trains started running from May 7 with the first special from Uruli to Rewa, Madhya Pradesh. The Railways ran special trains for Lucknow, Prayagraj, Hardwar, Jabalpur, Jodhpur and Nagaur.”
After one-and-half months, the division ran its first Shramik Train with a capacity of 1,093 passengers. On May 9, a train departed from Pune to Lucknow with 1,200 passengers. On May 10 a train from Pune to Prayagraj ferried 1,200 passengers.
HARDSHIPS FACED BY WORKERS
Ramesh Kumar, a daily worker at a construction site, boarded the Pune-Prayagraj train on May 10. He is originally from Pratapgarh near Prayagraj. Kumar said, “I had around Rs 1,700 one month ago, and now I have only Rs 200. The contractor, under whom I was working, had not given my labour charges of Rs 8,000. Around 28 people working under him are returning home empty-handed. No one came forward to help us. All of us contributed money and purchased groceries. Finally, we all are going home, and we are happy.”
Another worker Sudhir Prajapati said, “Railways helped us by carrying thousands of us home. The time we spent during this phase will never be forgotten.”
SHRAMIK TRAINS SO FAR
