As per the available information, Punjab has sent 288 Shramik trains to 11 states from May 5 to May 23
Punjab government has sought an approval from the Centre for sending 59 more special Shramik trains to Bihar as a large number of migrants from the state are still stranded here due to less frequency of Bihar-bound trains compared to other states. In the past 19 days, only 70 trains could be sent to Bihar out of total 288 that left Punjab with outbound migrants.
The reason behind this, Punjab authorities said, was a “conservative approach” by the Bihar government in giving approval to receive Shramik trains. Earlier, the approval had to come from states, but now the consent under the new SOP comes from the Union Ministry of Railways in consultation with the MHA.
As per the available information, Punjab has sent 288 Shramik trains to 11 states from May 5 to May 23. Out of this, 195 trains (67.8 per cent) were sent to UP, 70 (24 per cent) trains were sent to Bihar. Apart from this, 8 trains were sent to Jharkhand, 6 to Madhya Pradesh (MP), two each to West Bengal and Chhattisgarh, one each to Andhra Pradesh (AP), Uttrakhand, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Telangana. There are a total of 17.63 lakh migrants who have registered themselves on the Punjab government’s portal till May 23.
Out of this nearly 88 per cent (nearly 15.54 lakh) are from UP and Bihar states only. While UP’s count is 9.48 lakh and Bihar’s count was 6.06 lakh. Reaming 12 per cent of migrants registered on the portal are from 33 other states and UTs.
Till date, Punjab has already sent nearly 2.30 lakh people to UP, while Bihar is quite behind with around 85,000 who have left Punjab for this state.
Further, while around three dozen UP districts have been covered by trains from Punjab, only 15 districts of Bihar were covered including Katihar, Buxur, Siwan, Sitamahi, Patna, Shahrsha, Kishanganj, Bhagalpur, Muzzafarpur, Chhapra, Hajipur, Gaya, Bettiha, Danapur and Aurangabad.
Due to the low frequency of the trains to Bihar, a large number of migrants who got registered for over two weeks are feeling dejected and several have already left to Bihar either on foot or by second-hand bicycles.
Vikas Partap, Principal Secretary, PWD, (B&R) and Nodal Officer for Shramik Trains, Punjab said as per the earlier SOP for Shramik trains, the consent of the concerned state was necessary before sending trains there but now it is not compulsory and the government has already written to Ministry of Railways for approval of running 59 more trains to Bihar.
“UP gave consent to run trains in fairly large numbers but Bihar was a bit conservative in giving consent,” he said, adding that daily 20 to 25 trains are being sent to various states from Punjab.
Punjab, a senior Railways official said, needs 800 more trains to send all registered migrants back. “Even if 30 to 35 per cent of the registered migrants decide to stay back even then 11.50 to 12 lakh migrants want to go home,” he said.
Also due to a high number of migrants wishing to return home, Punjab government has already started sending some migrants through special buses.