At bus stand, migrant rush for train scan crushes UT administration

CHANDIGARH: With bags in their hands and a forlorn look on their faces, thousands of migrants walked to the Sector 43 bus stand as early as 6am on Wednesday to be medically screened for catching two trains leaving for their homes in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in the afternoon and late evening.
The huge rush caught the authorities off-guard. Finding it difficult to control the crowd, the UT administration and police department officials made their sitting arrangements on Vikas Marg outside ISBT (dividing road of sectors 43 and 52). Within minutes, three 1-km-long rows were formed on the road. Munna, a daily wager from Dhanas, was squatting on his haunches in one of them, with his wife and two children next to him. “You cannot survive without work in Chandigarh if you have a family. We will go to our village in Gorakhpur and then think about our future. Right now, I am worried only about my family,” he said.
Gopal Yadav, a daily wager from Sector 56, too was tense. “All my dreams of giving a good life to my family have shattered. I don’t know what I will do, but I want to go back home,” he said.
Most the migrants waited for their turn for hours, sitting even when it started raining.
Some, however, grew restive, when their turn did not come, accusing UT officials of allowing people from Mohali, Zirakpur and Derabassi. A few even lodged a protest. The administration denied the charges, but accepted people from other districts too had come to the bus stand.
“The special trains have been arranged for people stranded in Chandigarh. A list is prepared from registration done either through helpline or website of the administration. Then calls are made to each of them to reach the Sector 43 bus stand for medical screening. Any person who has not received the call or SMS should not come to the ISBT,” the administration said in a note released in the evening. The UT then ferries the migrants to the railway station.
On Wednesday, two trains — at 2 pm for Purnia in Bihar and at 7pm for Gorakhpur in UP — left from the city.