BENGALURU: Relief was writ large on the faces of migrant workers on Thursday as they boarded the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus that would take them from Bengaluru to their home district of Raichur.
"I was waiting for this day. There’s no work or food here. We could at least manage with what we have in our village. We had plans to walk or travel in trucks to reach our home, but we were stopped. We never imagined that the lockdown would last this long," said a worker, who got into the Raichur-bound bus with her belongings, including a table fan.
As many as 17 buses were operated from Bengaluru to Raichur and Yadgir on Thursday alone to ferry people stranded in Bengaluru due to the Covid-19 lockdown. The move comes a day after the Union home ministry issued a direction to facilitate inter-state movement of stranded people, including workers and students.
The government has been facilitating intra-state movement since April 24. KSRTC has ferried 14,398 migrant workers in 518 buses between April 24 and 30. "A total of 28 buses were operated from Bengaluru and carried 805 passengers," they added.
While 338 passengers travelled in 17 buses from Tumakuru division, there were 76 commuters in four buses from Kolar; 99 in four buses from Chikkaballapura; 462 in 21 buses from Mysuru; 62 in two buses from Chamarajanagar; 198 in eight buses from Hassan; 3,363 in 132 buses from Chikkamagaluru; 6,144 in 192 buses from Mangaluru; 2,417 in 92 buses from Puttur; 37 in two buses from Davanagere; 381 in 15 buses from Shivamogga and 16 in one bus from Chitradurga.
The Centre on Wednesday instructed all states to designate nodal authorities to identify stranded people and take steps to send them back to their places. All people should be medically screened at source and destination and kept in home/institutional quarantine on arrival. “All buses were sanitised and we followed social-distancing norms in seating arrangements," said an official.
Inter-state service yet to begin
While KSRTC is yet to commence inter-state operations, NWKRTC recently operated buses from Belagavi to Ahmedabad to ferry students from Gujarat stranded in north-western parts of Karnataka. NEKRTC operated 70 vehicles 15-20 days ago to transport workers from Vijayapura to Rajasthan.
"I was waiting for this day. There’s no work or food here. We could at least manage with what we have in our village. We had plans to walk or travel in trucks to reach our home, but we were stopped. We never imagined that the lockdown would last this long," said a worker, who got into the Raichur-bound bus with her belongings, including a table fan.
As many as 17 buses were operated from Bengaluru to Raichur and Yadgir on Thursday alone to ferry people stranded in Bengaluru due to the Covid-19 lockdown. The move comes a day after the Union home ministry issued a direction to facilitate inter-state movement of stranded people, including workers and students.
The government has been facilitating intra-state movement since April 24. KSRTC has ferried 14,398 migrant workers in 518 buses between April 24 and 30. "A total of 28 buses were operated from Bengaluru and carried 805 passengers," they added.
While 338 passengers travelled in 17 buses from Tumakuru division, there were 76 commuters in four buses from Kolar; 99 in four buses from Chikkaballapura; 462 in 21 buses from Mysuru; 62 in two buses from Chamarajanagar; 198 in eight buses from Hassan; 3,363 in 132 buses from Chikkamagaluru; 6,144 in 192 buses from Mangaluru; 2,417 in 92 buses from Puttur; 37 in two buses from Davanagere; 381 in 15 buses from Shivamogga and 16 in one bus from Chitradurga.
The Centre on Wednesday instructed all states to designate nodal authorities to identify stranded people and take steps to send them back to their places. All people should be medically screened at source and destination and kept in home/institutional quarantine on arrival. “All buses were sanitised and we followed social-distancing norms in seating arrangements," said an official.
Inter-state service yet to begin
While KSRTC is yet to commence inter-state operations, NWKRTC recently operated buses from Belagavi to Ahmedabad to ferry students from Gujarat stranded in north-western parts of Karnataka. NEKRTC operated 70 vehicles 15-20 days ago to transport workers from Vijayapura to Rajasthan.
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