A Shramik Rail on Thursday afternoon left for Bapudhan Matihari in Bihar carrying 1,440 migrant workers from the Chittoor railway station.
The migrant workers were mustered from various parts of the district in coordination with revenue officials. The migrant workers who reached the Chittoor railway station in the morning were earlier sheltered at half a dozen locations in and around the town.
Deputy Chief Minister Kalattur Narayanaswamy, who flagged off the Shramik Rail, said that the State government had accorded top priority to the safe travel of migrant workers. It was the fourth special train to carry migrant workers from Chittoor during the last fortnight.
“After mustering the stranded workers from various places, all care was taken to provide them shelter and food. The revenue officials had scheduled the food and drinking water facility for the workers in transit in coordination with the railway officials. From the Chittoor station alone, close to 5,000 workers were being transported to Odisha, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh,” he said.
Norms enforced
Earlier, batches of workers wearing masks were made to queue up in front of the railway station by following social distancing. Before allowing them to board the coaches, all were subjected to thermal screening and sanitisation.
Mohit (39), who boarded the train along with his family members, said that he worked as a painter in Chittoor. He came here in November along with his spouse and three children. “After the lockdown, I had a difficult time feeding my family. Luckily, we could survive with the food distributed by the police and various donors in the town. I will never return to Chittoor again,” he said.
Badarinath Chotu (48) said that he had come to Chittoor from a slum in Patna. “I have been coming to this place along with my two cousins for the past one decade, working for the mango pulp factories. It was in March first week that I came here. Though I wished to stay here till July, circumstances have forced me to go back. If all goes well, I will turn up here again next year,” he said.
As the train rolled away from the platform, their gestures of gratitude for the revenue, police and railway officials led to heartening moments. They waved, clapped and shouted in joy.
Collector Bharat Narayana Gupta, Deputy SP (Chittoor) K. Eeshwar Reddy and others were among the officials who bid adieu to the migrant workers.
