Over 3,000 Uttarakhand migrant workers being brought back in trains: Official

Over three thousand migrant workers belonging to Uttarakhand are being brought back in three trains from Maharashtra and Gujarat, officials said on Monday.

At around 4 am on Monday, one train from Surat and one from Pune left for Kathgodam in Uttarakhand's Nainital district. While another train from Pune left for Haridwar in the afternoon, the officials said.

There are 3,607 migrants travelling in these trains, said DG, Law and Order, Ashok Kumar.

Another train carrying Uttarakhand migrant workers will leave Surat for Kathgodam tomorrow, Kumar said.

He said medical examination of all passengers was conducted before they boarded the trains and only asymptomatic persons were allowed to travel.

Social distancing and sanitisation protocol will be followed throughout the journey and only six passengers will travel in each compartment instead of eight, Kumar said.

On reaching the destination station, the passengers will again be medically examined and mandatorily quarantined, he said.

Whether they are advised home or institutional quarantine will depend on individual cases, Kumar added.

Nearly 30,000 migrant workers have already been brought back to Uttarakhand by buses from Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi.

The state government had deposited Rs 50,00,000 advance with the railways to run such trains for migrant workers, officials said.