Migrants hit tracks to reach home

Satinder Pal Singh

Zirakpur, May 10

Migrants continue to walk on railway tracks to reach their respective states hundreds of miles away by risking their lives.

Reason: Most labourers do not have documents to register for shramik trains and some do not want to wait any longer. Labourers are preferring railway tracks to avoid inter-state check points as well.

In a tragic incident a couple of days ago, 16 migrants were crushed under a freight train in Aurangabad (Maharashtra) as tired labourers heading towards Madhya Pradesh slept on railway tracks.

A migrant alleged that he and his family had enrolled on the state government portal and they had got a confirmation on their mobile phone, but the train was canceled.

Labourers who are stuck stuck in the city without jobs, said in case special trains are not run they would head home on foot.

Though the government has started running special trains to ferry migrants, many of them have started their journey on foot or bicycle as the wait gets longer.