Following the ruckus by the migrant workers hoping to reach back home in Mumbai's Bandra railway station, similar commotion staged in Coimbatore's Sundarapuram area on Wednesday, May 20. Hundreds of migrant labourers gathered in Coimbatore in the hope of securing permission for boarding the Shramik special trains to get back home.
According to the reports, the migrants were spotted without wearing masks and were not abiding by social distancing norms while queuing up for the passes. The migrant workers stranded in the state have been complaining on the lack of train services to ferry them back home.
Labourers gather at Bandra station
In a very similar incident reported in Bandra railway station on Tuesday, thousands of migrant labourers gathered at the station on rumours of special trains to Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
The train was scheduled for Purnia in Bihar from the Bandra station for which the thousands of passengers registered with state authorities were scheduled to travel.
As the officials allowed only 1,000 people to board the train, the rest 4,000-5,000 labourers were later forcefully removed by the police. The labourers who thronged at the station without maintaining any social distancing norms were seen gathered on the bridge and the road near the station.
Shramik trains for migrants
The Shramik train services were launched by the Indian Railways to ferry the stranded migrant workers back to their native lands. As per the government reports, over 21 lakh passengers have reached their native places in 1,595 special Shramik trains from various states across the country.
The Railways is running the special trains after Home Ministry's permission for the movement of stranded citizens including migrant labourers, workers, students, tourists to return to their native towns due to coronavirus-induced lockdown.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu has topped the list in the highest number of positive coronavirus cases in the county after Maharashtra.
The southern state on Tuesday reported 688 cases, taking the total to 12,448. In addition to this, three deaths were reported from here, as the death toll hits 84 in the state. The state capital Chennai reported 552 fresh cases, taking the total to 7,672 in the city alone.
Albeit the rising number of cases, Tamil Nadu has allowed salons to reopen in rural areas.
