A special train was arranged to ferry migrants in Bhiwandi to Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday.
The handloom town has a massive population employed in loom factories. Police officials said this was the first of many services arranged for the workers. “The train was arranged to leave Bhiwandi Road and go directly to Gorakhpur station without stops. We had appealed to all corporators in Bhiwandi to ensure that only those with an Aadhaar card certifying that they hail from Gorakhpur apply for a seat,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Rajkumar Shinde, Zone II, Thane police, said.
He said people were advised to not flock to the police station, but divide themselves into groups and send their representatives.“Officers were designated at each police station to process the applications. The applicants were informed that if they didn’t hail from Gorakhpur, they would be brought back to Bhiwandi by the same train and an offence would be registered against them,” Mr. Shinde said.
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Nearly 1,200 seats were booked within hours of the announcement. Officers had to take to social media to ask people to stop coming. By evening, the workers gathered outside the station, sitting in long queues at safe distance from each other, supervised by a heavy deployment of cops.
The train, which was supposed to depart at 7 p.m., arrived at 10 p.m. The police conducted a final verification before letting the passengers on board, which was under way till late in the night.