Massive Labour movement through more labour trains underway

Nine more trains will be leaving Gujarat carrying about 10500 migrant labourers and other persons heading Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar & Uttar Pradesh.

In early morning on Monday, One Shramik special train left from Ahmedabad to Muzaffarpur in Bihar, while another left from Ahmedabad to Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh. Similarly, one train left from Palanpur to Agra, while one train left from Vadodara to Lucknow. The workers were screened before boarding the train. The administration also arranged for food and water for the workers.

“There were around 1,200 passengers in each of these special trains, who will reach their destinations by tomorrow. The trains are being run to maintain social distancing norms. Adequate security arrangements are also made on the trains. We plan to scale up the number of outgoing trains in a day,” said Vipul Mittra IAS, additional chief secretary, Labour and Employment department, and the state’s nodal officer for transport of migrant workers, pilgrims, students, and other stranded students to their home states by special trains.

Mittra added, “In close coordination with governments of Bihar, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh and Nodal officers of Gujarat we have run as many as 10 special trains in the last three days, and facilitated the return of nearly 12,000 people to their home states.”

Today Chief Secretary Anil Mukim and ACS Vipul Mittra presided over a video conference with district collectors and asked them to prepare a plan for the next seven days for movement of workers through special trains.

“We have been streamlining movement of workers in coordination with Railways and various states. The trains are being run on a point-to-point basis, and host states are being provided details of passengers so as to enable them to make logistical arrangements upon workers’ arrival,” he said further.

Mittra also said that eight more Shramik special trains, including three from Surat to Odisha, one from Surat to Bihar, one from Surat to Jarkhand, two from Ahmedabad to Bihar, Rajkot to Uttar Pradesh and one from Nadiad to Bihar are being planned.

“These trains will carry more than 10,500 passengers. We are in discussions with the host states for working out the exact schedules of the trains,” he added.

 “Labour department has also been decided to deploy government labour officers by detailed ordered at major stations and district collectorate offices to facilitate movement of worker. The Labour and Home departments have issued clear guidelines to collectors regarding the movement of workers through trains.,” Mittra added