Train carrying stranded labourers reaches Bhopal from Nashik

A special train carrying over 300 stranded labourers from Nashik in Maharashtra reached here on Saturday morning.

A district administration official said that the non- stop special train reached Misrod Railway Station on the outskirts of Bhopal.

"We have started screening these passengers brought here from Nashik in the special train. After that, they will be sent to their respective towns in different buses," the official said.

This is the first special train which reached Bhopal after the Centre's announcement to run such services to facilitate the stranded labourers and workers.

According to the district administration total 315 labourers were brought in this train. They are from Dewas, Indore, Jhabua, Khargone, Morena, Sheopur, Vidisha, Jabalpur, Seoni, Rewa, Sidhi, Singrauli, Satna, Shahdol, Damoh, Tikamgarh, Panna, Gwalior, Guna, Ashok Nagar, Bhind, Rajgarh, Datia, Khandwa, Barwani and Betul.

These labourers are being sent to their respective districts in 15 buses, the official said.

On Friday night, Divisional Railway Manager, Bhopal, Uday Borwankar had said that the non-stop special train carrying these labourers left Nashik at 9 pm on Friday.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had on Friday announced that one lakh labourers from the state stuck in various parts of the country will be brought back by special trains.

Chouhan had also said that the state government had brought back 40,000 workers from other states by buses so far.

"Now the state government will bring back about one lakh workers to Madhya Pradesh from different parts of the country by trains. A discussion has already been held in this regard with the Railway Minister," he had said in a statement.

The chief minister directed Additional Chief Secretary ICP Keshari to provide necessary information to the Ministry of Railways about the number of labourers from the state who are stranded in different parts of the country.

Keshari said over one lakh labourers from Madhya Pradesh are stranded in other states: 50,000 in Maharashtra, 30,000 in Gujarat, 8,000 in Tamil Nadu, 5,000 in Karnataka, 10,000 in Andhra Pradesh and 3,000 in Goa.