Hyderabad: The government of Telangana has run 11 trains on Wednesday to different States including, Bihar, UP, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan. In all, 12803 stranded migrant workers were sent to their respective States by these trains. These trains started on early hours from different locations in and around Hyderabad. In addition to these 11 trains, 2 trains had gone to Jharkhand on May 1and another to Bihar on May 5 carrying 2472 workers. The Government of Telangana has paid Rs.1.65 crore to Railways so far towards fare of 13 trains.
According to Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar the Government had indented for 40 trains and the Chief Minister himself intervened personally to ensure that 40 trains are lined up. Various states were contacted as well. However, the other states wanted more time for logistics arrangements for the workers. Therefore, despite of the arrangements made by the Telangana State to send these workers back home, 11 trains could only leave on May 5. ” It is mandatory to have consent of the receiving State as per SoP of railway to transport workers,” he said.
All the workers who took train on May 5 were provided with food, masks, fruits, water etc. They were picked up by buses from their respective places and dropped at railway stations. The Senior officers from IAS and IPS including the Chief Secretary personally monitored the entire movement of the migrant workers.
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The Chief Secretary has written letters to the Chief Secretaries of major states such as Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar and Rajasthan for accepting these migrant workers who were desperate to go to their native places. The response from some of these states have been awaited and without the consent of these states, as per Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) issued by the Railway Ministry, the trains are not allotted.
2.78 Lakh registered
The Registration of the migrant workers is in full swing and so far 2.78 lakh workers have been registered. The states with high number of registered migrant workers are UP (67,000), Bihar (66,000), West Bengal (45,000) , Orissa (34,000), and Jharkhand (29,000).
However, workers have to keep in mind that, it requires consent of their states and provision of trains by the Railways. So in the mean time, the workers are advised to continue their work here, and as and when trains are available they will be intimated and transported. Only the registered workers as selected through computer based lottery system and based on consent of the other states, will be sent.
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