Special train with 1,110 migrant workers departs to Odisha

The first train carrying migrant workers stranded in Kerala due to the nationwide lockdown to check the spread of COVID-19, left for Bhubaneswar in Odisha on Friday night.

The special 24-coach train, carrying around 1,110 migrant workers from Odisha, began its journey at 9.55 pm from Aluva railway station, a southern railway spokesman told PTI here.

The non-stop train is expected to reach Bhubaneswar on Sunday.

A railway official said personnel from Railway Protection Force have been deputed to provide security to the passengers throughout their journey.

Kerala Agriculture Minister V S Sunil Kumar, Ernakulam District Collector S Suhas and top police officials were present at the railway station to see off the workers.

The authorities have taken necessary social distancing precautions to ensure safety of the passengers, also comprising women and children, during the journey.

A kit containing bread, water and fruits were given to each passenger as they reached Aluva railway station to board the train in special KSRTC buses arranged by the state government.

Earlier, the train was scheduled for 6 pm departure but it got delayed for four hours due to the checking of details of the each passenger travelling in the train and ferry them in buses from various locations in the district, sources said.

They were brought to the railway station after conducting thermal screening to ensure that no symptomatic person was travelling in the train, sources said.

Commencement of train services to ferry stranded migrant workers has come as a relief for them.

Many of the migrant workers have been staying at camps set up in various districts by the Kerala government since the announcement of lockdown in March.

According to officials, Kerala is home to around four lakhs migrant workers.

Kerala's ruling CPI(M)-led LDF government calls them guest workers.

"I am very happy, because I am going to Odisha today. We are scared of coronavirus. Now, we are going back to our home state. I am very happy", a guest labourer said before boarding the train.

Asked whether he will come back to Kerala for work, he said a decision in this regard will be taken only after analysing the post coronavirus scenario in the country.

"We are very very thankul to governments of Odisha and Kerala for facilitating our journey", another guest worker said.

"I have given my contact details in Odisha to my contractor here. If situation becomes normal, I will come back," he said.

Following information about the special train, a large number of migrant workers, including women, thronged registration counters set up by the state government at nearby Perumbavoor, where majority of the labourers in the Ernakulam district are housed in camps.

Announcements were being made through public address system in various native languages of the workers, including Bengali, Odiya and Hindi, on the process, including social distancing, to be followed for the journey.

Meanwhile, state Home Secretary Vishwas Mehta told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram that five trains were likely to be operated from Saturday from the southern state to different destinations for the migrant workers and that the modalities were being worked out.

"The stations and states will be decided either today or tomorrow," he said.