Chandigarh, May 29- Haryana Chief Minister, Mr. Manohar Lal said that due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, State Government is running ‘Special ‘Shramik trains’ on a daily basis from various railway stations of the state to send workers willing to return to their home states. In this series, today six ‘Special Shramik trains’ have been sent from Haryana. Similarly, workers of the neighboring states of Haryana are also being sent to their home states through buses. He said that workers have made a significant contribution to the progress and development of the Haryana.

He said that realizing the difficulties of these workers, the Haryana Government has made arrangements to send them free of cost to their home states. Today, more than 8600 workers left from Rothak, Faridabad, Ambala and Panipat, by six ‘Special Shramik’ trains for their home states of Bihar.

Today 1676 workers from Ambala left to Katihar (Bihar), 2510 workers from Rothak to Katihar and Bhagalpur Bihar, 2833 workers from Faridabad to Bhagalpur and Purnia in Bihar and 1600 workers from Panipat to Arariya Bihar.

Train from Ambala to Katihar (Bihar)

Today as many as 1676 workers along with 22 children were sent through a ‘Special Shramik train’ which departed from Ambala Cantonment railway station. These workers include workers of Katihar district including workers of Saharsa, Madhepura, Supaul, Araria, and Purnia. This included 185 workers from Ambala district, 450 from Kurukshetra, 450 from Karnal, 150 from Sirsa, 62 from Jind, 100 from Yamunanagar, 100 from Kaithal and 179 from Hisar. This train would start from Ambala and would reach Katihar via Saharanpur.

Train from Rohtak to Katihar and Bhagalpur (Bihar)

Two special labour trains have been sent from Rohtak railway station today to Bhagalpur and Katihar in Bihar. In these trains, 1600 workers have been sent to Bhagalpur and 910 workers were sent to Katihar. Workers from Rohtak, Jhajjar and Charkhi Dadri were sent in the train going to Bhagalpur. While the train going to Katihar was carrying workers brought from Rohtak, Bhiwani and Jhajjar.

Two trains departed from Faridabad to Bhagalpur and Purnia (Bihar)

Two trains left today from Old Faridabad. The first train was sent to Purnia (Bihar), which had about 1383 passengers and the second train was sent to Bhagalpur (Bihar) which had about 1450 passengers. The process of sending people registered on e-Disha portal is in progress. Firstly, the workers were informed about their journey details through mobile phone and after that they were brought at the nearby shelter home, where they were all medically examined. These workers/people were urged to return to industrial city Faridabad once the conditions are normal and were asked to cooperate in the development of the country and the state.

Train from Panipat to Araria (Bihar)

As many as 1600 workers were sent from Panipat Junction to Araria (Bihar). Of these, 400 workers were brought from Sonipat and 1200 workers from Jhajjar district by Haryana Roadways buses to Panipat. After bringing all these workers, they were sent to various districts of Bihar via train.

Facilities provided to workers

The workers were brought from the shelter home to the railway station by roadways buses. All necessary arrangements were made before the workers left for their home state. While on one hand the railway platform was being repeatedly cleaned with a vacuum cleaner machine, on the other, the hands of all workers were also sanitized and food and drinking water were also provided to them. Along with free train tickets these workers have also been provided with other facilities, so that the workers do not face any problem on their onward journey. Workers in each coach of the train were made to sit while maintaining social distancing norms.

Police keep close vigil on anti-social elements wearing masks

Superintendent of Police Rohtak, Mr. Rahul Sharma said that a close vigil is being kept on the anti-social elements that may be roaming freely while wearing mask during the lockdown, in a bid to commit any criminal activity. He said that special monitoring is being done at the places of public dealing and money transactions. Photography is also being done so that anti-social activities can be curbed. Lockdown is being strictly enforced by the police and elaborate security arrangements have also been made, he added.

The joy of going home knew no bounds

Workers Somdas, Arun said that today they are feeling very happy that they are finally going back to their home states. They had given up hope of going back to their house. They expressed their heartfelt gratitude to the State government for making arrangements to send them back to their home states in a safe and systematic manner during this hour of crisis.

Echoing the same sentiments, other workers namely Purna Srivastava, Nihal Jogi, Dharamvir Rastogi, Ashok Kumar, while expressing their happiness said that they are very happy today and they thanked the State Government for sending them free of cost to their homes. Sagar, who works in a shoe company in Bahadurgarh, said that due to the lockdown, he is going to his house and he would certainly come back after the lockdown ends. Rahul Thakur and Ravinder Kumar, who work in the Rexine manufacturing unit, also thanked State Government for making arrangements by the Haryana government to send them back to their homes. Similarly, Om Prakash, who works in Khal Binola mill and Shubham, who works in fast food in Sonipat-Rai, said that after going back home, they would return to work once the lockdown is over.