Indian Railways: 14 lakh people sent back to home states till May 15 midnight

Update: 2020-05-16 12:29 GMT
Photo: PTI

The Ministry of Railways stated that 1074 ‘Shramik Special’ trains have repatriated 14 lakh stranded people back to their home states as of Friday (May 15) midnight.

In a tweet with the hashtag #IndiaFightsCorona, the Railway ministry had attached a press release with the above numbers dated May 16. The statement also said that the transportation is expected to be scaled up to 3 lakh passengers per day.

It further stated that mission ‘Back Home’ was undergoing in full steam and that trains were operated only after concurrence was given by both originating and receiving states.

“Proper screening of passengers is ensured before boarding the train and free water and meals are provided to passengers during the journey,” said the statement.

Many replies to the statement tweeted out by news agency ANI, questioned the authenticity of the numbers and vented that some of them were still stranded.

 

Earlier this month, the government began operating special ‘Shramik’ trains to ferry stranded migrant labourers across the country to their native places amid the coronavirus lockdown.

On May 12, the government started 15 inter-state passenger trains starting from Delhi. However earlier in the week, they announced the cancellation of train tickets booked till June 30 and offered a full refund to the customers. The Shramik Special trains were exempted from this.

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