52 lakh passengers moved via 3,840 Shramik Special trains: Railway Board chairman Yadav
May 29, 2020
New Delhi [India], May 29 : A total of 52 lakh passengers have been moved through 3,840 Shramik Special trains till yesterday, said Railway Board Chairman Vinod Kumar Yadav on Friday.
Addressing a press conference here, Yadav said that in the past week, more than 20 lakh passengers have been taken to their home states via Shramik Special trains.
"A total of 279 Shramik Special trains have been run till May 20. All requests from the States have been accommodated by the Indian Railways. Almost 3 lakh migrants are being ferried by the railways on a daily basis," he said.
"Most migrants have been ferried to Uttar Pradesh with around 42 per cent of the total number of passengers and Bihar with around 37 per cent of the total number of passengers," added Yadav.
The Railway Board chairman said that demand of originating States for Shramik Special trains is gradually coming down.
"Requirement of the States as on May 24 was 923 trains. As per requirement yesterday, the figure is now 449 trains. We have told all State governments that the Railways is ready to promptly run Shramik Special trains as per their demand. We will schedule the trains on the same day as we get the demand from the originating State. We will run the train on the next day itself," he said.
Indian Railways started Shramik Special trains from May 1 amid the lockdown to send the migrant labourers back home. From May 12, fifteen pairs of special trains are also being operated for general passengers from different cities of the country. Railways plans to run 100 pairs of special trains from June 1.
The country is under the fourth phase of coronavirus-induced lockdown, which will continue till May 31. The lockdown was first enforced in March to contain the spread of COVID-19.
