Special train with migrants to leave from Kerala

Kochi: A train carrying around 1,200 stranded migrant workers from Kerala would leave from the state capital to Hatia in Jharkhand on Saturday. Thiruvananthapuram District Collector K Gopalakrishnan said the train was expected to leave the central station in Thiruvananthapuram at around 2 pm. Those with any symptoms of the virus would not be allowed to travel, he told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram.

This is the second train which would be leaving from the state with the workers.

Around 1,100 migrant workers from Aluva in Kochi left for Bhubaneswar in Odisha on Friday night.

Two special trains started from Jaipur to send around 2400 stranded students and labourers back to their homes in Bihar and Jharkhand. While one train departed for Ranchi (Jharkhand) from Kota at 1200 hrs on Friday night, another train left from Jaipur to Patna (Bihar) with about 1200 labourers at 12.20 a.m. on Saturday.

It was an emotional affair at the railway station where these migrants were given a warm send off by railway officials and other senior personnel

A massive influx of migrant workers is expected in Bihar in the near future and arrangements must be in place for their mandatory 21-day quarantine, medical tests, treatment and economic rehabilitation, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has said.At a marathon meeting on Friday which lasted for close to six hours, Kumar asked officials to pull up their socks as the migrants, students and pilgrims, said to be in millions, seem poised to return home in droves on board special trains run by the Centre.