A one-off special train was run early on Friday, 1 May, to transport 1,200 stranded migrants from Lingampalli in Telangana's Hyderabad to Jharkhand's Hatia. This was the first such train to run amid the nationwide lockdown imposed to curb the spread of coronavirus.
The train was run on the request of the Telangana government and as per the directions of the Union Railway Ministry, ANI reported. "Any other train (will) be planned as per directions of the Railway Ministry and on request from the originating and destination states," a railway official was quoted by ANI as saying.
Railway Protection Force DG Arun Kumar told PTI that the train had 24 coaches and started at 4:50 am on Friday.
Earlier on Friday, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren tweeted that the central government had accepted their demand to bring back workers and that the government immediately started work to bring back those belonging to the state safely. "The security of each Jharkhandi is our priority and the government takes this very seriously," he added.
On Wednesday, the Home Ministry had allowed the movement of migrant workers, tourists, students, etc, stranded at various places across the country but under certain conditions. However, the MHA's order had not mentioned trains.
"Buses shall be used for transport of groups of persons. The buses will be sanitised and shall follow safe social distancing norms in seating," the order said.
(With inputs from PTI and ANI.)
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