Bhubaneswar: Two ‘Shramik Special’ trains carrying around 2,300 migrant Odia workers reached the state Sunday. The workers were stranded in Kerala and Gujarat due to the nationwide lockdown. The first train carrying around 1,150 labourers reached Jagannathpur and Khurda Road railway stations in Ganjam and Khurda districts in the morning. The second one from Surat arrived at Jagannathpur in the evening officials informed.
The migrant workers had boarded Friday evening the train from Aluva. They were engaged working in the construction and fishing segments in Ernakulam district of Kerala. The migrant workers from Surat are engaged in the textile industry.
Trains from Kerala and Gujarat
Around 560 passengers of the train from Kerala alighted at Jagannathpur while the remaining got down at the Khurda Road Railway Station. Those who got down at Khurda Road went to districts like Kendrapara, Jajpur, Jagatsinghpur, Khurda, Bhadrak and Cuttack, officials said.
Passengers of the special train from Surat mostly hailed from south Odisha. A majority of them were from Ganjam district. The passengers, including women and children, were screened. They were then given fitness certificates before the start of the journey.
“The Ganjam district administration has made arrangements to take the labourers to different quarantine centres after preliminary screening. Security was tightened in the station,” SP (Ganjam) Brijesh Rai said.
Social distancing norms implemented
Steps were taken to ensure that the workers strictly observed social distancing norms after their arrival at the railway stations informed officials. All workers were wearing masks and stood inside circles marked on the platform.
They were given food packets. They were also stamped with indelible ink on their right hands to highlight that they had returned from another state. They then were sent to quarantine centres in special buses, the officials said.
Highest number of returnees
The travellers from Kerala, who had registered themselves with the state government’s portal, hail from 23 of Odisha’s 30 districts.The highest number of returnees are from Kandhamal district (382), followed by Kendrapara (283) and Ganjam (130).
General public and journalists were not allowed inside railway stations at the time of their arrival to avoid any health risk, an official said.
PNN & Agencies
