A Shramik Special train to Guwahati left from the Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna station here with as many as 976 passengers on Saturday evening.
According to South Western Railway, it was the 267th Shramik Special train. In a press release, SWR said that each passenger was given rice, four chapatis, a sweet, sambar, two bananas, four sweet limes, an egg, and a two-litre water bottle.
SWR started running these Shramik Special trains for migrant workers from May 3 as per the requirement of the State government. Though many trains from various points across the State were operated, a majority were from the Bengaluru division.
Nearly 4 lakh migrant workers have travelled to their respective home towns since the outbreak of the pandemic.
The maximum number of trains were run on May 20 when 14 trains carrying over 21,000 people left for various destinations. However, the demand for these special trains started reducing after June 20.
In a submission made before the High Court of Karnataka last month, the State government pointed out that reverse migration was happening. Migrant workers who had left during the lockdown were returning to the city in other special trains from various States. It has also been reported that many builders were booking flights to bring back migrant and construction workers to complete pending projects in Bengaluru and few other cities in the State.
