26 lakh bookings for special trains till month-end

New Delhi, May 31

The Railways on Sunday said around 26 lakh passengers had booked for the advance reservation period (ARP) from June 1 to June 30 and more than 1.45 lakh passengers would travel on Monday with the operation of 200 special trains.

These services will be in addition to Shramik Special trains and 30 Special AC trains being run since May 12.

Passengers would have to reach station at least 90 minutes before departure and only asymptomatic travellers with confirmed or RAC tickets would be allowed to enter railway station and board trains, the Railways said.

Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra have, however, expressed reservations about the planned services, it said. The three states have raised concerns over the rising Covid cases as the reason behind their opposition to movement of trains and stoppages as planned. “The matter is being discussed with the states. Any further development in this regard will be intimated,” a railway spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has pulled up an official of the office of Chief Labour Commissioner (CLC) for “callous and casual” response in denying data on stranded migrants under the RTI Act. The CIC has asked the Labour Ministry “to maintain a dynamic website as regards data on migrants as and when it is received from regional heads”. Activist Venkatesh Nayak had filed an RTI application seeking to know the state-wise names of districts from which data about the stranded migrants had been received. He was denied data despite an April 8 circular of the CLC. — PTI