Punjab government has been facilitating the return of migrants to their native states. Till now more than 90 trains have left from Punjab taking 1,10,000 migrants to their states. The state government has spent more than rupees 6 crore to fund the movement of these migrants till now.
Vikas Pratap, State Nodal Officer, Railways informed that this return is being accomplished with the collaboration of railway authorities of Ferozpur division and Ambala division. He further informed that in the coming days more than 15 trains are going to depart daily taking migrants to their homes.
The maximum number of trains are going from Ludhiana. Till now, 36 trains have taken passengers to their home states from there. Similarly, 31 trains have gone from Jalandhar to different parts of the country. Other places from where trains have departed are Patiala, Mohali, Bathinda, Sirhind etc. In the coming days trains shall also depart from Ferozpur Cantt., Doraha etc.
He informed that maximum trains are going to U.P. followed by Bihar and Jharkhand. Punjab government is also sending trains to Chattisgarh, Manipur, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh to mitigate the difficulties of the migrants of these states.
Vikas Pratap also informed that the state of Punjab has appointed nodal officers for all these states who are pro-actively connecting to their counterparts in other states to facilitate the return of the migrants. All the Deputy Commissioners of the state have constituted teams for the mandatory medical screening of migrants. Only those are being allowed to board the trains who are found to be asymptomatic.
