Crammed in serpentine queues every day, thousands of migrant labourers throng the streets near ISBT-Sector 43 here waiting for their turn to return to their hometown.
The first shramik train left for Gonda in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday evening accommodating stranded migrants and till Wednesday evening, seven such trains have left for Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Every day, the migrants reach the ISBT-43 after receiving a call or an SMS from the Administration and wait in queues for their turn for medical screening by teams of doctors. The long queues are evident how social distancing norm goes for a toss every day.
After waiting in scorching heat for hours for the entire exercise to complete, the migrants then leave in CTU buses for Chandigarh Railway Station where the special shramik trains are stationed to take them to their hometowns. Food packets and entire expenditure of their travel is borne by the UT Administration.
However, a large number of migrants from neighboring places also reached ISBT-43 on Wednesday making it difficult for the UT Police to manage the crowd. Following this, the Chandigarh Administration issued directions to check the movement of people at city’s borders and ensure that persons from other district do not to enter into Chandigarh for train journey as their journey will be arranged by their concerned District Authorities.
Later in the evening, Manoj Parida, Adviser to UT Administrator clarified that the special shramik trains from Chandigarh Railway Station are meant for Chandigarh based migrant workers only and not for neighboring states. Many outsiders walking in the city, will ultimately have to go back and catch trains from their own areas. Boarding will be allowed to only those registered with Chandigarh Administration and found eligible for the journey, he added.
Two special shramik trains accommodating a total of 2670 migrants left from the Chandigarh Railway Station on Wednesday. A train accommodating 1458 passengers left at 2.25 pm for districts namely Purnia, Katihar and Khagaria in Bihar while another train with 1212 persons left at 7 pm for districts namely Gorakhpur and Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh.
Talking to The Pioneer, Yashpal Garg, CEO, Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB), who is in charge of this process, said, “Till Wednesday evening, 9254 migrants have left by seven special shramik trains from Chandigarh Railway Station.”
He said that more trains are scheduled upto May 17 for Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to take the stranded migrants from Chandigarh to their hometowns. The first ‘shramik’ train carrying 1188 migrant labourers from Chandigarh had left for Gonda in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday evening.
After the Central Government allowed movement of migrant labourers to their native places, more than 35000 migrant workers from the city had got themselves registered with the UT Administration to return to their native states.
Garg further said, “For smooth movement of stranded persons, two holding centres have been set up at ISBT-43. At holding centres, the passengers are medically examined and they are required to carry the medical certificate throughout the journey.
At holding centre, they are provided packed lunch packet and at Railway Station they are provided packed dinner with one litre water bottle before boarding in assigned coaches.”
About the procedure followed, he said that a list is prepared from registration made either through helpline or website of the Chandigarh Administration.
Then telephone calls are made to each of them to reach ISBT-43 for medical screening and thereafter journey through special train. Any person who has not received telephone call or SMS should not come to ISBT-43, he said.
At ISBT-43, names of the persons are checked from the list and other persons are not allowed to go, he added.
420 PERSON LEFT FOR MANIPUR
420 students and others stranded persons of Manipur were facilitated by the Chandigarh Administration to reach their home state.
Firstly, they were medically examined and then sent to the Sirhind Border through special buses and their subsequent journey was arranged through train, said an official spokesman.