3 Shramik Special trains from Jammu with 4,002 passengers leave for UP

Three Shramik special trains carrying 4,002 stranded migrant workers have left from Katra in Jammu for Uttar Pradesh on Thursday, a spokesperson said.

With this, 30,566 migrant workers have been sent back to their native place on board Shramik Special trains from Katra since May 19, he said. 

So far, the government has arranged 19 special Shramik trains to facilitate the return of migrant workers reach their home towns safely.

The 'Shramik Special' trains are being operated primarily on the request of states, which want to send migrant workers stranded due to the COVID-19-induced lockdown, to their native places.

While the Indian Railways is bearing 85 per cent of the total cost of running each train, the rest is being borne by states in the form of fares.

The coronavirus-triggered lockdown has had a devastating impact on the economy as well as on the livelihoods of lakhs of migrant workers. The plight of migrant workers walking from several urban centres to their villages hundreds of kilometres away had grabbed headlines for almost two months.

There have been incidents of many of them being killed in road accidents. A number of migrant labourers were killed by a speeding train after they fell asleep on the tracks.