The first of the two ‘Shramik’ special trains from Ernakulam on Saturday evening left for Khurda Road in Odisha from Aluva, carrying 1,111 migrant workers.
They were ferried to the Aluva railway station in batches on KSRTC buses from towns in Ernakulam suburbs.
Another train carrying 1,140 workers from various places in the city left for Danapur in Bihar from Ernakulam Town railway station late in the night.
A few workers who showed symptoms of fever and other ailments had to return to their place of stay. The workers on board the trains were given chapathi, dal and drinking water in a kit, while the trains will replenish food stock from IRCTC base camps en route.
Train to Dhanbad
A special train from Kozhikode railway station left for Dhanbad in Jharkhand on Saturday carrying the first batch of migrant labourers in the district.
The service came to the benefit of 1,140 people who were selected from various labour camps.
Officials with the Disaster Management Cell said the service was offered only to labourers from Kozhikode and Koyilandy taluks.
Only those who were found healthy during the medical screening were allowed to leave the district, they said.
The first batch of migrant workers from different parts of Malappuram district returned home on Saturday by a special train arranged from Tirur to Danapur in Bihar.
As many as 1,140 people were ferried on the train. The district administration arranged buses to carry them from different parts of the district to Tirur Railway Station.
None was allowed to come directly to the railway station. Police had a tough time neutralising the confusion created by a fake WhatsApp message which had exhorted the migrants to reach Tirur station by afternoon with ₹1,200 to get a ticket for the train.
District Collector Jafar Malik had warned the workers in Hindi and Malayalam on the social media that they would not be considered for the train if they reached the station directly.