The exodus of migrant workers to their hometowns in other parts of the country continues with officials recording a rise in demand for berths on Shramik Special trains over the last two days. As of Wednesday, South Western Railways (SWR) had operated 240 trains from across Karnataka, of which 207 departed from Bengaluru. Of the over 3.50 lakh people who used the services, more than 3 lakh were from the city.
On June 16, thousands of people gathered at mustering centres hoping to board a train. To meet the demand, SWR operated five trains on Tuesday, two after midnight.
A BBMP official said that the demand for Shramik trains is likely to continue for another two weeks. “After the first week of June, demand for trains started dropping. There were instances of operating only one train per day. But on Tuesday, there was a sudden increase in the number of people turning up at mustering points. We had to arrange two trains to Assam to cater to the demand. NGOs are facilitating the travel back to their native places and helping migrant workers reach transit centres.”
Civic officials added that as most people were accommodated on June 16, only two trains were operated on Wednesday.
A railway official said that while planning the train routes, they make sure that the train stops at multiple points along the way. This is to ensure that migrants, who turn up for registration, are ferried to their destinations on the same day,” said the official.
‘Train schedule in advance’
Bengaluru with Migrants, an umbrella organisation of various citizens’ groups that have been working for weeks in helping migrant workers to register on the Seva Sindhu portal and helping them reach transit camps, have demanded that authorities announce the schedule of Shramik Special trains in advance.
“Migrants have no access to information regarding the trains operating on a particular day. Most have to give up their rooms and wind up their operations when they decide to take a train. They often have no employment and no wages. Many come from towns and areas outside Bengaluru. To do this with uncertain or no information is a harrowing experience for them,” wrote NGOs in an open letter to the government.
An official of the BBMP said it is very difficult to predict how many migrant workers will turn up at the transit centre.
“People are turning up in large numbers without registering on Seva Sindhu, which makes it difficult to plan ahead. When the number of registrations to a particular destination reaches over 1,000, we request SWR to operate a train,” said the official.
BBMP Commissioner B.H. Anil Kumar appealed to the general public to inform migrant workers wishing to leave Bengaluru that a transit camp has been set up at ‘Tripura Vasini’ in Palace Grounds. People can remain there till their date of travel. Free food and accommodation is made available at the transit camp, he said on social media.