Kottayam: After confusions had risen over special trains arrival in different stops in Kerala, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told Railway Minister Piyush Goyal that prior information must be given when special trains are allotted.
The Kerala government was not informed in advance when a train from Mumbai left for Thiruvananthapuram on May 22. There was no clear notification on which all stations would the train stop, leading to the confusion.
The state government has to be given the list of passengers and other details. The CM pointed out that only then can the state make the necessary arrangements for the medical examination of the passengers and quarantine facility.
The district administrations in Kannur and Kottayam were given short notices about the arrival of the train.
Authorities were informed about the train's arrival at Kottayam station by 8:30pm on Friday. And the list of passengers was given only on Saturday morning. Soon, urgent measures were taken to carry out the medical examination of the passengers and quarantine facilities.
Officials also called up the passengers on the list provided by the railways. However, some of the people on the list had not even undertaken the train journey. Some others had already reached the destination, leading to confusion over the list.
Collector P K Sudheer Babu said that most of the passengers had not received the travel pass to Kerala. The train arrived at the Kottayam station at 8:30pm on Saturday. A total of 116 people got off at Kottayam.
Kannur Collector T V Subash too said that the authorities were informed about the arrival of the train at Kannur station very late in to the night. Nor were the full details of passengers provided. But they soon made arrangements such as deploying the medical team. All the 152 passengers, who alighted at the Kannur station, were allowed to be under home quarantine.
The railways too had instructed officials to inform about the arrangements made at the stations. Railway authorities said that the district administration notified about this only on Saturday afternoon.
The Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee had arranged for the train to send back the stranded Keralites and made the list of passengers. The Maharashtra government bore the travel expenses.
Number of stops can be reduced
The railways has said that the number of stops of trains can be reduced if the state government gives a written request.
Since Kerala did not make any such requests, the railways allowed all stops for the trains that will start service from June 1.
Other states had cut shorten the number of stops, citing the difficulty in arranging facilities at all stations. It is also an arduous task to keep track of the number of passengers getting off at major and small stations. The solution is to allow stops at district administrations and major towns.
Ernakulam-Nizamuddin Mangala, Thiruvananthapuram-Mumbai Lokmanya Tilak Netravati, Ernakulam- Nizamuddin Duronto, Thiruvananthapuram-Kannur Jan Shatabdi, and Thiruvananthapuram-Kozhikode Jan Shatabdi are set to resume services from next month.
Kerala has been allowing passengers to alight at three major stations in Kozhikode, Ernakulam, and Thiruvananthapuram. However, with the arrival of trains with more number of stops, the situation might get out of hands.
Therefore, the passengers' outfits have pointed out that it was better to allow only three stops for trains from high-risk areas such as Chennai and Mumbai.
