Two days after Tiruppur saw its first special train leave the city with migrant workers, the second Shramik special train was operated from the Tiruppur Junction on Tuesday.
Officials from the Salem Division of Southern Railway said that 1,464 migrant workers were sent in the special train to Hajipur Junction in Bihar, which left the junction at 1 p.m. The train had 24 coaches, all of which were disinfected prior to its operation. While 1,140 workers were allowed in the first train on Sunday, 1,464 workers were allowed on Tuesday due to the increased accommodation as the middle berths were also allotted for the passengers, railway officials said. The body temperature of all the workers was checked at the railway station and they were provided with food parcels and water bottles.
District Collector K. Vijayakarthikeyan inspected the proceedings at the station and gave send off to the workers. He said that 10,400 migrant workers had registered on the State government’s online portal requesting to be sent to their hometowns. Nearly 720 workers had been sent by buses so far.
More special trains were being arranged for the migrant workers from Tiruppur to States such as Odisha, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh, he said in a press release.
Noting that there were no active COVID-19 cases in the district, Mr. Vijayakarthikeyan said that Tiruppur district had been declared as an orange zone and the restrictions in 32 containment zones were being relaxed in a phased manner.
Mr. Vijayakarthikeyan said in a tweet on Tuesday that 3,520 workers from Tiruppur district had been sent to their hometowns.