Bhubaneswar, August 19: A special train from Kochuveli (Thiruvananthapuram) left Kochuveli at 11am Monday for Bhubaneswar carrying flood-stranded passengers of northern Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
The train will reach Berhampur at 12.50 am (midnight Tuesday) and Bhubaneswar at 3.45am Wednesday.
Apart from this, two special trains from Ernakulam left August 19 for Howrah. These trains will reach Bhubaneswar at around 7.30am August 21 (Tuesday).
One special train from Thiruvananthapuram left at 2pm Monday for Silchar in Assam. This train will also pass through ECoR and is expected to reach Bhubaneswar Wednesday morning.
Odisha Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Bishnupada Sethi said, “Special trains are being operated from Kerala and the Railway Coordination Department is engaged in this task. For those willing to return to Odisha arrangements have been made. The list prepared is dynamic. It is being updated based on fresh information and simultaneously shared with Kerala.”
Speaking to media at the Secretariat Monday, Sethi said, “Control Room phone number has been made public. Hence, we are receiving information from stranded people and also from their relatives. Based on this we have prepared the list of people to be rescued from Kerala’s flood. That information and list has been shared with Kerala Relief Commissioner. Besides, a team of our Labour & Employment Department has been sent to Kerala. We have also shared the information and list with that team.”
“On Sunday we were informed that there was extreme rush when the train started from there. So our government contacted the Railway Board to make sure that passengers returning to Odisha are not in trouble,” the SRC said.
