Thiruvananthapuram: Three trains carrying migrant labourers to their homes left from Kerala.
A non-stop train carrying around 1,100 stranded 'guest workers' from Kerala left Thiruvananthapuram Central station for Hatiain, Jharkhand on Saturday. Another one, carrying 1,140 migrants, left from Ernakulam North station and headed towards Danapur in Bihar.
A train carrying 1,111 passengers from Aluva station in Ernakulam district also left for Odisha.
The passengers, including women, children and the elderly.
Two more trains are expected to leave with the workers from Tirur and Kozhikode.
The first train from Kerala carrying migrants left on Friday night, from Aluva in Kochi to Bhubaneswar in Odisha.
Each of these non-stop “shramik special trains” will carry a maximum of 1,200 passengers.
The train from Tirur station in Malappuram is bound to Patna in Bihar and the train from Kozhikode to Dhanbad in Jharkhand had been delayed by a few hours.
The passengers were brought to the railway stations on special KSRTC buses arranged by the state government.
So far, six special trains carrying migrant workers have departed from Telangana, Kerala, Maharashtra and Rajasthan on Friday.
One of them, transporting over 1,200 migrant labourers from Telangana to Jharkhand, reached its destination Hatia on Friday night.
The state government would take them to their respective districts in sanitised buses, following COVID-19 protocols.
The train, which started from Lingampally in Telangana, to Hatia is the first passenger service run by the railways after the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) allowed the states to ferry migrants back home since the lockdown began on March 25.
Railway Protection Force personnel area accompanying the labourers in special trains.
The authorities have taken necessary social distancing precautions to ensure safety of the passengers, also comprising women and children, during the journey.
Kerala is home to nearly 35 lakh migrant workers, according to a 2018 report by the state government. Another study - by Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation - found that the number increases by 2.35 lakh every year.
The passengers of Aluva-Bhubaneswar train were brought to the railway station on Friday after conducting thermal screening to ensure that no symptomatic person was travelling in the train.
A kit containing bread, water and fruits were given to each passenger as they reached Aluva railway station to board the train in special KSRTC buses arranged by the state government.
Many of the migrant workers have been staying at camps set up in various districts by the Kerala government since the lockdown began.
Kerala witnessed protests by inter-state migrant labourers mostly seeking to get back to their native places.
In March, migrant labourers had hit the streets at Paippad village in Kottayam district, urging the government to arrange vehicles for them to return home.
On Thursday, a group of migrant labourers in Malappuram district took to the streets demanding transportation to go home.
