Following a request by the State government, South Western Railway will operate two Shramik Special trains on Sunday and Monday (May 17, 18) to Uttar Pradesh for the benefit of stranded people including workers, tourists, and students.
As per the tentative schedule, a train to Basti via Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh will leave Hubballi railway station at 9 a.m. on May 17 and 18.
Cancelled
Although the railways was scheduled to run a Shramik Special to Katihar in Bihar on Sunday (at 5 p.m.) it has cancelled the service and has said that the new date would be announced later.
Meanwhile Principal Revenue Secretary N. Manjunath Prasad has written to the Divisional Railway Manager of SWR to operate three trains to Uttar Pradesh from May 20 to 22. He has requested the railway authorities to run Shramik Special to Basti in Uttar Pradesh via Lucknow on May 20 and 22 and run another special via Lucknow to Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh on May 21.
Those who wish to travel to these destinations are requested to register their names and buy tickets at the New KSRTC Bus Station in Hubballi. Nodal Officer N.R. Purshottam has said that a special counter has been set up at the new bus station for helping the stranded passengers and so far 952 persons had registered for the travel.
Quarantine
As institutional quarantine has been made mandatory for those coming into Karnataka from other States, the Dharwad district administration has set up institutional quarantine and it has also fixed tariff for those could afford hotels for the quarantine period.
Deputy Commissioner Deepa Cholan, after discussion with hoteliers, has fixed the tariff for the hotel accommodation and food. Accordingly those opting for hotel quarantine will have to pay ₹700 each for non-AC rooms for single occupancy and ₹1,000 for double occupancy. The tariff for AC rooms is ₹1,000 and ₹1,500 respectively. The tariff includes charges for breakfast, lunch and dinner. For the budget hotels the tariff is ₹500 for single occupancy and ₹700 for double occupancy.
Exempted
As per the circular issued by Additional Principal Secretary Javed Akthar, although health checkup is mandatory for all coming into the State, pregnant women, children below the age of 10 years, senior citizens above the age of 80 and persons who require regular medical attention, who test negative after the COVID-19 test, are exempted from institutional quarantine.
