Chandigarh, May 21: Haryana Government led by Chief Minister, Mr. Manohar Lal is committed to send willing migrant labourers to their home states. 19 Special Shramik Trains are scheduled for Bihar, Nagaland, Tripura, Manipur and Chhattisgarh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya from May 22 to May 27, 2020. Out of these 15 trains will be going to Bihar, one will go to Chhattisgarh and permission has also been granted to three trains for North Eastern states.

Giving information about this, ADGP CID, Mr. Anil Kumar Rao said that after the announcement made by Chief Minister, Mr. Manohar Lal to send stranded migrant labourers and agricultural labourers willing to return to their home states free of cost by the Haryana Government, more than 2,38,000 migrant labourers have been sent by various Special Shramik Trains and buses to their home states at the expenditure of the Haryana Government.

Giving more information regarding this, an official spokesperson said that till May 21, 2020, a total of 57 Special Shramik Trains carrying migrant labourers have been sent to Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, out of which 40 trains have been sent to Bihar and 17 trains to Madhya Pradesh. He said that till date, migrant labourers have been sent to various states through more than 4600 buses, out of which 4300 buses have been sent to Uttar Pradesh, 167 to Rajasthan, 73 to Madhya Pradesh, 9 to Punjab, 9 to Uttrakhand, and buses have also been sent to Jammu and Kashmir and other states. Apart from this, 781 buses were sent to Gaziabad in Uttar Pradesh., he added.

He said that today 400 buses carrying about 12,000 migrant labourers are being sent to four clusters of Uttar Pradesh namely Bareilly, Aligarh, Moradabad and Itawa. Similarly today, a total of 3840 labourers were sent to Bihar on three trains carrying 1212 labourers from Ambala railway station to Muzaffarpur (Bihar), 1400 labourers from Faridabad railway station to Barauni (Bihar) and 1450 labourers from Hisar railway station to Kishanganj (Bihar).

He said that so far more than 1,17,000 migrant labourers have been sent to Uttar Pradesh while more than 50,000 migrant labourers have been sent to Bihar from Haryana. Similarly, 15,000 migrant labourers have been sent to Uttarakhand, while more than 28,000 migrant labourers have been sent to Madhya Pradesh.

He informed that due to the efforts of Chief Minister, Mr. Manohar Lal, now labourers of North Eastern states will also be sent to their destination in four Special Shramik Trains. He said that on May 22, the train will depart from Gurugram to Dimapur (Nagaland) via Guwahati and will carry the labourers of Arunachal, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Assam. Similarly, labourers of Tripura and Assam will be travelling on a train going from Gurugram to Agartala (Tripura) via Guwahati on May 23 and a train going from Gurugram to Jiribam (Manipur) via Guwahati on May 25 will carry labourers of Manipur.

He informed that 5 special trains were scheduled to run from May 21 to 23, 2020, for Madhya Pradesh, however, due to the reopening of industries in the State the migrant labourers have chosen not to return and these trains have been cancelled.

He said that about 688 shelter homes had been set-up across the state for the migrant labourers from various other states stranded in Haryana due to lockdown. After the process of sending the migrant labourers was started, about 9400 labourers are currently staying in 72 such camps, he added.

He said that the State Government has appointed Nodal Officers for all districts to ensure that no migrant labourers face any difficulties. He said that the entire expenditure of trains and buses being run to send migrant labourers to their home states is being borne by the Haryana Government. Free of cost arrangements are being made by the State Government to keep these migrant labourers in relief camps, shelter homes and to bring them to railway stations and bus stands, he added.

About 11,000 Haryana residents stranded in other states have been brought back homes. The process of sending and bringing back stranded migrant labourers is still going on.