First train with Rajasthan migrants reach Jodhpur

JODHPUR: The first train carrying Rajasthani migrant workers and students from Telangana reached Jodhpur on Thursday morning. The train that brought 921 migrants had departed from Bolarum railway station on Wednesday and reached Jodhpur’s Bhagat Ki Kothi at 8.30am. All these migrants, belonging to different districts, have been sent to their respective destinations in 17 Rajasthan Roadways buses.
According to the district magistrate, those belonging to Jodhpur district were sent first to a quarantine centre in four buses. The samples of all of them were taken. After that, they were sent to their respective destinations within the district for home quarantine.
Passengers were allowed to alight district-wise from the train. They were sent to their respective buses after screening and matching their records with the ones provided by the Telangana administration.
Other than Jodhpur, they belonged to Nagaur, Sikar, Barmer, Jalore, Jhunjhunu, Bikaner, Hanumangarh, Tonk, Sawai Madhopur, Karauli, Dholpur, Pali, Sirohi, Rajsamand, Bhilwara, Kota and Ajmer districts.
The migrants were happy to reach their home state. The mood was quite palpable in the eagerness shown to board the buses and start the final leg of their journey home after being stuck in other states during such a crisis.
Gordhan Ram, a migrant from Khaud village of Pali district, said life had become quite difficult for them in Telangana. An employee at a garment shop, he said that he had exhausted his entire savings and what the employer had given him, making it impossible for him to continue staying in Telangana.
Jodhpur Municipal Corporation (JMC) commissioner Suresh Kumar Ola said the entire railway station had been sanitised well before the train arrived.
“We had set up 11 counters to screen passengers and complete other documentary formalities. Passengers were called district-wise one by one and thermal screening was done before sending them to their buses,” Ola said.
All passengers were provided food packets and water before they boarded their buses, which had come from other depots besides Jodhpur.