Coronavirus India lockdown: The first train sets off for Jharkhand from Telangana today morning carrying 1,000 migrants.
Amidst the bitter reality that all of us in the world are facing, there comes a bit of good news for migrants of India. Today morning at 5 AM the first train carrying 1,000 migrants operated after nearly 40 days of lockdown. The train was set off from Lingampalli (Telangana) for Hatia (Jharkhand). According to sources, other trains are being planned too but, the officials from Railways maintained that this is just a one-off affair till now.
The decision for starting a train to carry the migrants today was taken late on Thursday, after a secret meeting held between Railways & the Home ministries. The train which left with unreserved coaches is a 24-coach train & all measures have been taken to ensure proper social distancing as the Railway Protection Force has taken the responsibility to ensure the same. Plus adequate sanitization of the coaches was undertaken before taking them onto the platform.
Speaking on the same, spokesman, Ministry of Railways, Mr RD Bajpai said, “Today morning, a One-off special train was run from Lingampalli to Hatia on request of the State Government of Telangana and as per the directions of Ministry of Railways. All necessary precautions such prior screening of passengers, maintaining social distancing at the station and in the train were followed." He further added that the train was only a one-off special train & further any other trains shall be planned only after they get the directions from the Railway ministry & from both Originating and Destination State Governments.
RPF DG Arun Kumar also said that their officials are on board & everything has been taken care of like food, protective gear and social distancing.
Also, the non-stop train will be halting only for crew changing & watering. Each coach consists of 54 people & it would be following a route that will take the migrants via Ballharshah and Nagpur in Maharashtra, & then take the path of Raipur and eastwards towards Jharkhand.
The big decision was taken after the significant move by the Centre two days ago, that allowed for movement only through buses for the many stranded. And, this move led to an uproar from other states like Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Rajasthan & others which demanded to carry the migrants by trains instead of buses.
Hemant Soren, CM of Jharkhand, had a word with Piyush Goyal, Railway Minister about the same & said that his state has around 9 lakh migrants who are stuck all across the country & most of them are in South India. Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi of Bihar also echoed the same thoughts demanding trains for transporting the migrants.