Special train with 1473 HP migrant workers leaves Goa

NT NETWORK

Margao

Heaving a sigh of relief, 1473 migrant workers from Himachal Pradesh, who were stranded in Goa, on Wednesday left for their native state by special ‘Shramik Express’ train. The stranded persons boarded the train at the Margao railway station.

This was the fourth Shramik Express train from Goa that ferried migrant workers to other states. Earlier, one train had left for Madhya Pradesh and two to Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir.

Earlier, the passengers were ferried from their concerned locations to the Margao railway station by special KTC buses. The registration of passengers was affected and they were later screened for COVID-19 symptoms by the medical staff before bringing them for boarding the train for their onward journey.

A special pandal was put up at the railway station where the commuters assembled but many defied social distancing norms and jostled for space.

Around 2,500 commuters gathered at the station by afternoon. According to the sources, the number picked up in the evening as the departure time of the train neared.

“We could accommodate only 1473 persons in the special train. Many were sent back. Till the next request from the Himachal Pradesh government comes, such arrangement could not be made again,’’ said the district collector Ajit Roy who was personally monitoring the movement of these people at the railway station.

A couple of the passengers, who were workers at a   beach shack in north Goa, while speaking to this reporter, explained how tough it was for them to get space in this train.

“We were working at a shack at the Calangute beach. Ever since Covid-19 pandemic hit the country and lockdown was announced, we had no job and struggled to make ends meet. On the other hand family members are all panicking back home. They want us to return home in any circumstance. Life is important than job now,’’ the two youth reacted.

Officials from the police, railway police and the district administration were seen trying hard to see to it that all the commuters maintain social distancing.