7 Karnataka special trains ferry 10,954 migrants home

Bengaluru: The South Western Railway (SWR) zone has ferried 10,954 migrants home to Bihar, West Bengal and Odisha in seven Shramik special trains, an official said.

"First Shramik special of Friday departed from Ashokapuram to New Jalpaiguri at 12.43 p.m. with 1,520 passengers," said a SWR zone official on Friday.

The second special train left from KSR Bengaluru to Darbhanga in Bihar at 2.55 p.m. with 1,622 migrants.

Friday's third special train departed Chikka Bannavara station near Bengaluru at 5.15 p.m. with 1,575 passengers.

The fourth special train departed KSR Bengaluru for Muzaffarpur in Bihar at 7.15 p.m. with 1,600 migrants.

Similarly, the fifth special train departed from Chikka Bannavara for Araiya at 8.25 p.m. with 1,568 passengers.

The sixth special train left from Koppal for Bhadrak in Odisha at 8.40 p.m. with 1,469 migrants.

The last train and seventh special train on Friday departed from Chikka Bannavara station to Bhagalpur at 10.43 p.m. with 1,600 migrants.

The special trains are being run following the Ministry of Home Affairs' permission for the movement of stranded migrant labourers, workers, students, tourists and others amid the COVID lockdown.

Since May 3 to Friday, the railway zone has operated 176 special trains to chug more than 2.5 lakh migrants home to mostly Odisha, Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal and some northeastern states.