Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh: Shramik special trains are running to take the people stranded in coronavirus lockdown back to their homes. In a recent incident, a Shramik special train set off to Gorakhpur (UP) from Vasai Road (Maharashtra) on 21st May 2020 reached Rourkela station in Odisha today morning, nearly 750km away from Gorakhpur.
However, the clueless passengers claim that driver has lost the route.
Angry and confused, when migrants asked why this had happened, they said they were informed by officials present there that the train’s driver had lost his way because of some mix-up.
Shramik special train set off to Gorakhpur (UP) from Vasai road (Maharashtra) on 21st May, 2020 reaches Rourkela station in Odisha today morning. Clueless passengers claims that driver has lost the route. No official word from @WesternRly. Can someone help. pic.twitter.com/CcccayFCT0
— Ritvick Bhalekar (@ritvick_ab) May 23, 2020
The Railway ministry responded to this, It says,” we have decided to run few of the shramik trains on diverted routes. Some trains are diverted for Bihar via Rourkela yesterday to clear congestion.”
The Railway ministry responds to this, says,” we have decided to run few of the shramik trains on diverted routes. Some trains are diverted for Bihar via Rourkela yesterday to clear congestion.” https://t.co/hUQp7htdHg
— Anisha Dutta (@A2D2_) May 23, 2020
But the question remains why the migrant workers travelling in the train were not informed. They have also not been told about when the train will leave Rourkela for Gorakpur.
Passengers inside the train also complained that there was no water inside the trains. One of the passengers even tweeted that the train took a wrong route from Bhusawal and was going to Nagpur. He added that the after 23 hours of the departure, the train was still in Maharashtra.
@PiyushGoyal Ham log kal vasai se Gorakhpur jane wali special shramik train 21st ko pakde hai 23hour ho chuka abhi tak train Maharashtra me .aise me ham log bhukhe hai yaha tak pani bhi nahi pine ke liye pani nahi hai aur ye train Bhusawal se naagpur ke rout pe kyu ja raha hai
— Arun Gupta (@Arun07078361) May 22, 2020
With domestic air travel set to resume and additional 200 passenger trains to be operated, the government on Friday expressed confidence these steps will help increase inter-state movement of people even as the Railways ferried over 31 lakh migrant workers on 2,317 ‘Shramik Special’ trains since May 1.
According to official data with the Railways, 31 lakh migrant workers on board 2,317 Shramik Special’ trains were transported to their home states since May 1, almost seven lakh more than the initial projection of 24 lakh.
The initial estimation of migrant workers to be transported back to their home towns were based on details provided by various state governments to the zonal offices of the Railways in late April when it was deciding on protocols to run the special trains, officials said.
Odisha: 20 migrant workers jump off Shramik Special train to evade quarantine
