Published 19:12 IST, June 6th 2020
Railway Board: 4,286 Shramik Special trains have carried over 58 lakh migrants till now
Railway Board Chairman Vinod Kumar Yadav on Saturday said that over 58 lakh migrants have been taken to their destinations by 4,286 Shramik special trains
Railway Board Chairman Vinod Kumar Yadav on Saturday said that over 58 lakh migrants have been taken to their destinations by 4,286 Shramik special trains till now. He said the main objective behind running special trains was to help labourers, who are our brothers and sisters, reach their destination. Indian Railway and the state governments cooperated with each other in running these trains.
Speaking to ANI, Yadav said that till now, 4,286 trains have been run and more than 58 lakh people have travelled so far.
"We started the Shramik Special trains from 1 May. Till now 4,286 trains have been run and more than 58 lakh people have travelled so far. I have been seeing in the past 3-4 days that the demand for trains, which was 250 per day, is declining slowly. It first came down to 170 trains, then to 137 and in the last two days, 32 and 24 trains were run," he said.
"I have written to Chief Secretaries of the states on June 3, asking them to tell us their requirements.The requirement we got was for 171 trains. In the past two days, we have run 76 trains out of the 171 trains," Yadav added.
READ: 'No deaths in Shramik Trains due to lack of food, water': Centre tells SC
Over 4,000 Shramik trains ferried migrants
The top five states or union territories from where maximum trains originated are Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar, stated the Indian Railways in a release.
The release further stated that 102 trains were on the run till 10 am in the morning on June 2. Till now, more than 57 lakh migrants have been transported through Shramik Special Trains in 33 days, it added. Giving more details regarding the maximum departures and arrivals of the migrant workers, the release read, "The top five states/UTs from where maximum trains originated are Gujarat(1027), Maharashtra(802), Punjab(416), Uttar Pradesh (288) and Bihar (294). The top five states where maximum trains terminated are Uttar Pradesh(1670 ), Bihar(1482), Jharkhand(194), Odisha (180), West Bengal (135)."
Meanwhile, the Central government on Friday told the Supreme Court that no deaths of migrant workers have occurred in any Shramik trains due to lack of food, water, or medicines being provided to the people.
Updated 19:12 IST, June 6th 2020