A special train carrying over 340 stranded labourers from Nashik in Maharashtra reached here on Saturday morning.
A district official said the non-stop special train reached Misrod railway station at the outskirts of Bhopal. “The train brought 347 passengers from Nashik. Of these, 13 were from Bhopal and remaining from other districts. After the screening, these passengers were sent to their respective towns in around 15 buses,” Joint Collector Rajesh Gupta said.
Screening done
“During the coronavirus screening, none of theses passengers was found symptomatic. After breakfast, they were sent to their home districts where another screening will take place,” Mr. Gupta said.
These labourers are from Dewas, Indore, Jhabua, Khargone, Morena, Sheopur, Vidisha, Jabalpur, Seoni, Rewa, Sidhi, Singrauli, Satna, Shahdol, Damoh, Tikamgarh, Panna, Gwalior, Guna, Ashok Nagar, Bhind, Rajgarh, Datia, Khandwa, Barwani and Betul, he said.
Bhopal Divisional Railway Manager Uday Borwankar had said on Friday that the special train left Nashik at 9 p.m.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had on Friday announced that one lakh labourers from the State stuck in various parts of the country will be brought back by special trains. He added that the State government had brought back 40,000 workers from other States by buses so far.
“Now the State government will bring back about one lakh workers to Madhya Pradesh from different parts of the country by trains. A discussion has already been held with the Railway Minister,” he had said.
He also directed Additional Chief Secretary I.C.P. Keshari to provide necessary information to the Ministry of Railways about the number of labourers from the State who are stranded in different parts of the country. Mr. Keshari said over one lakh labourers from Madhya Pradesh are stranded in other States: 50,000 in Maharashtra, 30,000 in Gujarat, 8,000 in Tamil Nadu, 5,000 in Karnataka, 10,000 in Andhra Pradesh and 3,000 in Goa.
