23,974 stranded migrants brought back to U'khand: Govt

A total of 23,974 stranded migrants have been brought back to Uttarakhand so far from other states, the state government said on Saturday.

As many as 1,79,615 migrants belonging to Uttarakhand, who are stranded in other states due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown, have registered online to come back to the hill state, Secretary Shailesh Bagoli told reporters.

Out of these, 23,794 have been brought back so far from neighbouring states, including Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat, Bagoli said.

He said the exercise is being carried out in a planned way to ensure the safety of people by strictly taking all precautions like medical screening, social distancing, sanitisation and quarantine of those returning.

Trains will also be run to bring back stranded migrants from Surat, Ahmedabad, Pune and Bangalore for which talks are on, the official said.

An advance of Rs 50 lakh has also been deposited by the state government with the railways for the purpose, he said.