Migrants breach security at unmanned crossings

Ludhiana: In a major breach in security arrangements of special Shramik trains crossing through the city railway station carrying thousands of migrants, several unauthorised labourers entered different coaches of a special train when it was passing through several unmanned railway crossings at slow speed in the afternoon hours within the city limits.
Due to lack of patrolling by railway security forces along railway tracks passing through areas where these labourers live, many migrants while taking advantage of the present situation try to enter the bogies of special trains which were crossing through several unmanned crossings.
After getting inputs from railway sources about regular attempts being made by migrant labourers for getting entries into the coaches of the special trains passing through the city limits, a team of TOI visited some railway crossings and was shocked to see that several migrants labourers were getting easy entry into different coaches of special trains to Bihar and Uttar Pradesh when these were passing through one unmanned crossing (near Gurdwara Dukh Niwaran) at slow speed due to technical reasons.
The TOI team noticed that almost 10-15 migrant labourers entered different caoches of a special train which left the city station during afternoon after carrying thousands of migrants who had registered themselves on government portals for availing benefits of the government scheme.
Sources in the railway department have revealed that “for the past two days the menace of getting entries into special trains on the move has increased to a great extent as migrant labourers were getting impatient and looking for every possible measure to reach their home states in these special trains”.
“Moreover, due to a large number of registration on government portals by migrants labourers, it has become difficult for the Railways to manage the large number of trains in a single day to help thousands of labourers return to their native places. This has forced them to jump on to these trains when these are at slow speed,” sources said.
Speaking to a migrant labourer, Subhash Kumar, who was standing along a railway tracks wanting to jump on to a train in an illegal way, said, “Migrant labourers are fed up with waiting for their turn to come for catching the special train heading towards Bihar and Uttar Pradesh after doing registration on portals. For the past 15 days they didn’t received any confirmation message from the government about the departure timing of the special train, which forced us to take such a step as we are facing huge crises in managing the daily essential items for survival here.”
“There is a large number of migrants who were risking their lives for catching the trains in the same way. We want to return home fast as we have lost our jobs and ran out of money for buying essentials items for survival,” some labourers told TOI.
Director of Ludhiana railway station Tarun Kumar said, “We have already given directions to the local railway security forces to conduct patrolling round the clock around unmanned crossing for keeping tab on such wrong practices. But if there is still something wrong going on, then more security forces will have to be deployed at such crossings to ensure smooth plying of all special trains”
On the other hand, DSP (administration) Pardeep Sandhu said, “We have already deployed proper security forces around the railway station to restrict such activities of migrant labourers. But I will personally go and check all security arrangements at different crossings for proper enforcement of law and order.”