Over 600 stranded Himachal residents return from Pune in special train

A total of 612 people of Himachal Pradesh stranded in Maharashtra's Pune and surrounding areas due to the coronavirus-triggered lockdown arrived here in a special train on Tuesday morning, a senior official said.

This is the fifth special train arrived with stranded residents of the state at the Una railway station from different parts of the country since May 13, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Sandeep Kumar said.

The DC said earlier 3,413 people stranded in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Goa returned to Una in four special trains since May 13.

While 642 people came from Bengaluru on May 13, 1,486 people returned from Goa on May 15, 697 residents returned from Mumbai and 588 people came back from Goa on May 18, he added.

Of the 612 passengers who arrived from Pune on Tuesday, 215 were from Kangra, 70 from Una, 68 from Hamirpur, 63 each from Shimla and Mandi, 41 from Solan, 37 from Kullu, 28 from Chamba, 16 from Bilaspur, 9 from Sirmaur and two from Kinnaur, Kumar said.

Besides people, including one each from Uttarakhand and Punjab's Garshankar, also arrived in the train, he added.

The passengers were allowed to alight district-wise to maintain at least one meter distance between two persons. The passengers from Kangra district alighted first.

The DC said the passengers were provided water and food packets before being sent to their home districts in Himachal Road Transport Corporation buses.

He thanked Bhadsali's Radha Soami Satsang Ghar secretary Gurmukh Singh and other volunteers for providing food packets to passengers.

Kumar said that the 70 people from Una would be kept under institutional quarantine. Their samples will be taken after five-six days and those tested negative, would be allowed to go for home quarantine.

Each of the 70 people will have to remain in quarantine for a total of 14 days, he added.

Upon arrival, a passenger from Shimla's Sunni Amit Kumar, said he worked at a hotel in Pune. He said he was not hopeful of returning to the state within a few weeks.

He thanked Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and the state government for making the arrangements that enabled him and others to return home.