8 trains carrying migrants to Odisha, UP leave Gujarat in 2 days

Eight special trains carrying stranded people, including migrant labourers, tourists and pilgrims, left Gujarat for different destinations in Odisha and Uttar Pradesh in two days, a senior official said on Sunday.

While four trains left on Saturday, as many others started their journey on Sunday, he said.

Apart from them, two more trains are scheduled to leave the late-night on Sunday, the official said.

"Four trains- two each from Ahmedabad and Surat- left on Saturday for places in Uttar Pradesh and Odisha. Four other trains carried passengers from Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Palanpur on Sunday for those two states. Two more special trains will leave late tonight," Additional Chief Secretary Vipul Mittra, said.

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These ten trains will carry around 9,500 passengers to their destinations in Odisha and Uttar Pradesh, from where the state governments will make further arrangement for them, he said.

The Gujarat government has appointed Mittra as the nodal officer to coordinate with the Railways and respective state governments for the movement of stranded migrant workers and other passengers in special trains.

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"Since yesterday, we have been constantly coordinating with the railways and the state governments to streamline the movement of labourers to their home states. Trains are being run at half their capacity to maintain social distance norms," he said.

According to him, in order to avoid unnecessary crowding at the stations, the district collectors have been asked to inform the labourers in advance that they should not ask other unregistered persons to accompany them.

All the passengers were screened before the journey to ensure that only asymptomatic persons board the trains, he said.

"District collectors are working out lists of people to be shifted over the next seven days. The host states are being given the entire list and phone numbers of the travelling passengers well in advance to enable them to arrange for further logistics on arrival," he said.