27 Shramik Special trains arrive in Malda in 36-hours

A total of 27 Shramik special trains arrived at Malda in 36-hours till Friday evening bringing in several thousand migrant labourers and other passengers from different parts of the country, railway police officials said. Twelve of these trains were from Mumbai, while others were from Delhi, Surat, Ludhiana and other places, the officials said.

The 27 include 13 Shramik specials that arrived at Malda since Friday morning, a government railway police officer said. An average of 300 passengers detrained from each train, while one brought in around 1,000 people, he said.

At least 10 more trains were scheduled to arrive at Malda by Friday night, he said. Most of the returnees belong to Malda, North Dinajpur and South Dinajpur districts, the official said.

All the returnees were medically screened before they were sent to their home districts by state-run buses for mandatory quarantine, a West Bengal government official said. At Bankura, passengers of a Shramik special train headed for Malda from Kottayam in Kerala pulled the chain to stop it at the station and 58 of them deboarded.

All of them were taken to Bankura Sadar police station after thermal screening and were then sent to their homes by vehicles arranged by the state government, an official said. The passengers, who got down at the unscheduled stop, included women and children, he said.

One Shramik special arrived at Howrah station on Friday morning from Mumbai, a railway official said in Kolkata..