VISAKHAPATNAM: A Shramik special train with 1,200 migrant workers left Vizag for Daltonganj in Jharkhand on Monday. Railway staff and others gave a warm send off to migrant workers at the railway station. The workers were screened and later passes were given to them to board the 24-coach Shramik special train.

On their arrival by buses at the railway station, the migrant workers were once again screened by the railway authorities with thermal scanners. So as to maintain social distance, only 56 persons were allowed to travel in a compartment with 72 berths.  All migrant workers were provided breakfast. Arrangements were also made for provision of lunch and dinner to them en route.

Hundreds of workers, mostly from Bihar and those working in Paravada and Malkapuram industrial areas, thronged the railway station to go to their hometowns. Many migrant workers, who did not have boarding passes, were also among them. Mild tension prevailed at the place when they demanded that they be allowed to travel in the train.

Alam, a Bihari, said about 500 migrant workers from Bihar came to the railway station when they were told that the train was going to their State. When they reached the railway station, police chased them away stating that they did not have permission from the authorities to travel in the Shramik special, he said, adding that they registered their names at the collectorate six days ago to go to their hometowns and they did not get any intimation about their journey home.

Rakesh Sharma, who left for Jharkhand in the Shramik special, thanked the Central government for making arrangements for the return journey of migrant workers. Asked whether he would return to Vizag if lockdown was lifted immediately, he said first he would stay with his family for sometime and then think about future. On Saturday, a Shramik special was run to Bihar from Vizag to send 700 migrant workers to their hometowns.