1,130 stranded guest workers leave to Odisha on first train from Chennai

CHENNAI/ COIMBATORE: “I will come back,” 22 year-old Jagadesh Tagore of Odisha’s Ganjam district said confidently. He along with his cousin Bijuval and 1,100-odd guest workers from different parts of Odisha boarded the first train from MGR Chennai Central Railway station to their native. The train started at 10pm and will reach Jagannathapur in Odisha.
A group of 120 workers stranded in Salem were brought to Chennai earlier in the day and they also left in the train to Odisha.
After taking them to the railway station, the authorities screened them, checked their temperatures and verified their Aadhaar cards to double-check only people who registered to travel through the TN government portal boarded the train. Before they entered the station, they were given food packets. “I want to be with my family during this time. They are worried a lot,” Nabhogan Naik, 22, of Puri. He has been working as a loadman in Guindy and earned around ?12,000 a month.
“The TTE also checked our Aadhaar cards and took down our names after we boarded the train,” he added.
Though arrangements were made for sending the workers by the train by the TN government in coordination with the railways, Southern Railway officials have been maintaining secrecy. They refused to acknowledge that a train is being operated. The workers were brought to the railway station by special MTC buses around two hours before departure.
Another train to move migrants will be operated to Manipur via Viajayawada and Guwahati on Sunday.
On Saturday, as many as three trains, each with 1,130 passengers, departed to Jaunpur and Akbar Nagar in Uttar Pradesh and Dhanapur in Bihar from Coimbatore. Railway officials said the passengers would reach their destination on Monday. However, the situation turned a little tricky for officials as many guest workers thronged the Coimbatore station following rumours that rail traffic was resumed. Several of them walked up to 20km to reach the Coimbatore station and were not allowed to board a train as they did not collect their travel passes from local authorities after registering on the government portal. A train was also operated from Vellore to Patna.