3L migrants leave Ludhiana in month

Kuldip Bhatia
Ludhiana, May 29

After the first Shramik special train chugged off from the Ludhiana railway station carrying nearly 1,000 migrants back to Uttar Pradesh on May 5, the number of passengers to board the trains has been increasing.

By Thursday night, around 3 lakh migrants and their family members left the city.

Minister: Scale down domestic flights

Chandigarh: To contain the spread of Covid in the state, there is a need to reduce domestic flights, especially from Mumbai and Ahmedabad, where a high number of cases have been reported, said Health Minister Balbir Sidhu. He said most of the cases reported in Punjab had travel history to other states and countries, hence there was a need to focus on passengers especially from high-risk states and countries. TNS

District officials said around eight lakh migrants, including their family members from the city, had got their names registered on the government portal for travelling back to their native places.

The district authorities said no Shramik special train would leave today. They announced that those who wanted to go back should report to Guru Nanak Stadium for registration and medical screening. Subsequently, more than 3,000 migrants thronged the stadium and kept sitting in serpentine queues, waiting for their turn.

Earlier, after a rumour spread that special trains for migrants were being discontinued from May 29, more than 10,000 workers gathered at the stadium and Government College for Women on Thursday evening. The police had to act tough to disperse them.

According to Railways officials, 375 Shramik Special trains had been operated from Punjab, of which 226 had gone to Uttar Pradesh, 123 to Bihar, nine to Jharkhand and seven to MP.