Run at least 28 trains for migrants from C'garh: CM to Goyal

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Saturday urged Railway Minister Piyush Goyal to run at least 28 trains to bring back migrant laborers from the state stranded across the country due to the lockdown for the coronavirus outbreak, officials said. The railway started running 'Shramik Special' trains from Labour Day on Friday to get stranded migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students, and other persons to their respective states.

In a letter to Goyal, Baghel hailed the Centre's decision but sought that the facility is free of cost on humanitarian grounds, a public relations department official said. Baghel said nearly 1.17 lakh laborers from the state are stranded in 21 states and four union territories, and the number may increase significantly if students, tourists, etc from here are included.

"Our administrative system has been coordinating with concerned states and chalking out an action plan for the safe homecoming of people, particularly laborers, stuck there," Baghel said. "As per the letter issued by Indian Railway Board on May 1, the fare has been fixed for sleeper mail and express train which is not appropriate as the laborers and people stuck in other states due lockdown are already in distress. They should be provided this facility free of cost on humanitarian grounds," he said.

Baghel requested Goyal to run seven trains from Jammu to Raipur-Bilaspur, three trains each from Lucknow to Raipur- Bilaspur, Delhi to Raipur-Bilaspur, Hyderabad-Secunderabad to Raipur-Bilaspur, two trains each from Kanpur to Raipur- Bilaspur, Pune to Raipur-Bilaspur. He also said trains should be run from Chennai to Raipur, Bengaluru to Raipur-Bilaspur, Allahabad to Bilaspur, Vishakhapatnam to Raipur, Surat-Ahmedabad to Raipur, Kolkata to Raipur, Jaipur to Raipur and Patna to Durg, the official added.