After Maharashtra imposed Section 144 across the state, migrants labourers were seen gathered at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in Mumbai's Kurla to board the trains to their native places.The migrant workers who live in the state to earn their livelihood but are anxious about the lockdown and willing to go back to their native places as they have nothing to do here.
Many of them have gone to their villages to vote in local elections, to attend weddings.
According to a senior Central Railway official, the Central Railway operates an average of 28 trains a day from Mumbai to the northern and eastern parts of the country and more than 3.5 lakh workers have reached their villages in 14 days. There is no reason to fear as there are enough trains available with special summer trains due to the increase in passenger congestion.
115 summer special trains have been announced for the month of April and this number will be further increased.In addition, CR will continue to operate 18 regular passenger trains daily. Between April 1 and 14, about 3.5 lakh people have traveled to their hometowns. Each outstation train carries about 1,400 people. By the end of the month, another four lakh passengers are expected to travel in CR trains, the official said. Last year, 400 shramik special trains were deployed to transport six lakh migrants to their hometowns.
Many trains are from the north and east. Apart from operating regular trains to reduce the extra passenger congestion during the summer, Central Railway has run 76 special summer trains from Mumbai, Pune and Solapur areas from April 7 to April 15 for destinations in the north and east. Special trains are being planned for the migrant workers as the crowd at stations continue to increase. Additional summer special trains will be announced on time. The number of laborers returning to the village has increased in the last few days.