Shramik Special returns stranded Kannadigas from North India

As many as 293 people, who were stranded in Delhi and other North India States, arrived in Hubballi on Saturday by a special train organised by State government.

The Shramik Express between Delhi and Bengaluru, via Hubballi and Kalaburagi, was the first passenger train to arrive at Hubballi railway station.

More than 960 Kannadigas, the majority of whom were students, tourists, pilgrims, and others are part of the train. Of the 293 passengers, 32 are from Dharwad (32 passengers), Gadag (1), Haveri (14), Belagavi (51), Davanagere (8), Shivamogga (67), Uttara Kannada (9), Dakshina Kannada (42), Chikkamagaluru (4), Bagalkot (13), Vijayapura (32), Chitradurga (12), Koppal (10), and Hassan (5).

The train is expected to reach Bengaluru on Sunday after completing a 60-hour journey from the national capital.

The Dharwad district administration had set up 14 sections for each district, where the passengers for respective districts were screened, marked with indelible ink, and allowed to board 10 NWKRTC buses for their destinations. The passengers were provided with a food packet and water bottle for the further journey.

Could have planned better, say some returnees

While the majority of the passengers thanked the State government for arranging the special train for them, a few complained that the journey could have been planned better.

“I am a resident of Belagavi, and this train came via Belagavi. It also stopped there for a few minutes. However, we were not allowed to get down. We were forced to come to Hubballi, get ourselves checked at the railway station, board a bus back to Belagavi and get quarantined at a government facility in Belagavi,” a passenger said and added that this defies any logic. “We ended up wasting seven hours in train and bus. The train had reached Belagavi at 8:30 am, but by the time we were sent to quarantine, it was 3:30 pm,” he said.

Similarly, the 13 passengers from Bagalkot, and 32 passengers of Vijaypur could have reached their home district earlier if they were allowed to alight at Belagavi. Lesser passengers would have meant better management and social distancing at the railway station, which was missing at Hubballi railway station.

The train later went to Gadag, and then to Kalaburagi. However, passengers from Gadag were not allowed to alight the train there but were made to alight in Hubballi itself.

We only run trains: SWR

Speaking to DH, SWR Central Public Relations Officer E Vijaya said, the Indian Railways was only running the trains. The decision to stop the train at a particular station, number of passengers to carry, and all other decision were taken by the State government, and SWR had no role to play in this.

The swab test of all the 32 passengers of Dhawrad was conducted at the University of Agriculture Sciences, Dharwad, before being sent to quarantine. All the passengers were quarantined at a government facility or at designated private hotels the cost to be paid by the passengers.

Dharwad DC Deepa Cholan said the train was made to stop only at two places so as to keep a tab on the number of passengers arriving to Karnataka, and to ensure that none of the passengers escapes the quarantine of 14-days.

Failed attempt to escape

A civil service aspirant and a resident of Belagavi to evade from 14-days of institutional quarantine tried to escape from the train by getting down at Ghataprabha station. However, the alert railway officials caught him and brought him back to the train. He was later sent to government-quarantine in Belagavi.

Of the 960 passengers aboard the Sharmik express 300 of them were civil service aspirants, many of whom have been studying in Delhi for more than one year.