First workers' special arrives in Himachal, passengers include 188 from Kangra

The first special train to Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday brought 188 migrant workers belonging to Kangra district, an official said here.

The Shramik Special' carried several hundred passengers from Bengaluru to Una, from where they were shifted to other districts in the state.

Those returning to Kangra district were placed in institutional quarantine for 28 days at Dehra, Jwalaji and Kangra, Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Prajapati said.

A total of 42,323 persons are put under home quarantine in Kangra district till Tuesday and the figure will be added with another 1,000 today as the incoming public is coming from other states, he said.

Though the incoming arrival of public to Kangra district from other states has come down over the last few days, the DC said that nearly 8,000 people are still expected to come which would take the number of returnees to around 50,000.

He said the capacity of sample testing is currently 150 a day at Dr R P Medical College, Tanda but it will be increased to 300 on Thursday and further to 450 in a couple of days.

The DC said, Till date 1,650 samples in the district were tested in Tanda (RPGMC) and 15 people were tested positive. Five of them have recovered and returned back to their homes while 10 tested positive after the government allowed stranded people to come back from other states.

Prajapati said, There is only one death registered due to COVID-19 in the district so far, whereas 958 people lost their lives due to other reasons in the district from April 24 to May 8."