In addition to the migrants returning by road to Uttarakhand, two Shramik special trains also departed from Gujarat and Maharashtra for Uttarakhand on Monday. The Surat to Kathgodam train carrying 1,207 migrants is expected to reach Kathgodam on Monday night while the Pune to Haridwar train with 1,206 migrants is expected to arrive on Tuesday afternoon.
So far, 1.93 lakh migrants have registered online for returning to Uttarakhand. Till Sunday, a total of 34,409 migrants had returned from various states. Similarly, 8,687 persons had departed to other states from Uttarakhand till Sunday.
From Monday to May 15, passes have been issued to 5,000 people for returning from Uttar Pradesh to Uttarakhand. Apart from the two trains which departed on Monday morning, process is underway to facilitate trains to bring back migrants from Karnataka, Gujarat, Telangana and other states. About 1,200 persons are slated to return by bus from Rajasthan.
Meanwhile, officials checked arrangements at the Haridwar railway station on Monday. Twenty medical teams have been deployed to administer health checks to all the returning migrants. Those returning on this train will be transported to their home districts by roadways buses. ADM KK Mishra said that more such special trains are likely to arrive in Haridwar in the coming days. The district administration has completed all preparations. Haridwar district magistrate C Ravishankar, senior superintendent of police Senthil Avoodai Krishna Raj S and other officials inspected the arrangements at the railway station on Monday. The DM said that proper security arrangements have been made to ensure nobody exits without proper screening.