Bengaluru: The Indian Railways has been running Shramik trains with a view to transporting migrants back to their native places as also mitigating their hassles.
In the last few days, the department has ferried more than 11 lakh migrants in over a thousand trains.
Now, railway minister Piyush Goyal has announced that the department will run trains from every district of the country.
In this regard, he said, “To provide relief to migrant labour, Indian Railways is ready to run "Shramik Special" trains from any district in the Country.”
He urged the district collectors to make a list of stranded labourers and apply to the department to make use of the service.
“District Collectors should prepare lists of stranded labour and destination and apply to Railways through the State nodal officer.” Goyal said.
“Indian Railways is ready to augment the running of Shramik special trains as per the actual needs of the districts,” a railway note said.
It must also be noted that several states like West Bengal, Rajasthan have not made full use of the operations.
The railway minister had said in this regard, "The Railways is ready to ferry workers to their homes by running 300 Shramik special trains daily, but sadly a few states like West Bengal, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand are not allowing these trains due to which migrant workers are suffering and are away from home."
Proper screening of passengers is ensured before boarding the train. During the journey, the department also provides passengers with free meals and water.
The Indian Railways started to run the Shramik Special train from May 1 to transport the stranded migrant workers, students, pilgrims and tourists across the country.