Karnataka govt makes U-turn, to resume spl trains for migrant workers
Bengaluru/New Delhi: In a U-turn, the Karnataka government on Thursday decided to resume special trains to send back stranded migrant workers to their home states, two days after it stopped the services that drew flak from opposition parties.
As the Yediyurappa government sought the approval of nine states receiving their natives, the Railways said it has operated 163 Shramik Special' trains since May 1 and ferried home over 1.60 lakh migrant workers stranded in various parts of the country due to the coronavirus lockdown.
On Tuesday, the state government withdrew its request to the Railways to run more special trains for the migrants within hours of doing so, sparking accusations from the opposition parties it was treating the migrant workers worse than bonded labourers . Six trains had earlier originated from places in the outskirts of Bengaluru.
The withdrawal had followed an appeal by Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa to the workers on the same day to stay back in the state assuring them they would be provided jobs with the easing of the lockdown curbs. However, most workers were reported to be keen on returning home and created a ruckus on Monday in Bengaluru city.
The state government on Thursday wrote to the administrations in Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Odisha conveying its decision and seeking their consent for receving the workers, official sources said in Bengaluru.
In separate letters, state Principal Revenue Secretary N Manjunatha Prasad, who is also the Nodal Officer for Migrant labourers movement, asked his counterparts to give in-principle approval for movement of special trains every day, starting from Friday.
Prasad informed his Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal counterparts that Karnataka intends to run two trains to the states a day till May 15 for transporting thousands of migrant workers stranded in the Bengaluru and other districts due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
The state planned to run one train each a day to Manipur and Tripura.
in the national capital, 1,200 migrant workers carrying their belongings in bags of all shapes and sizes left by the first special train to Chattarpur in Madhya Pradesh after they reached the New Delhi railway station in over 70 buses arranged by the Delhi government
The Railways said it operated 56 special trains on Wednesday and 14 so far on Thursday, taking the total tally to 163.
Till May 7, 50 trains were enroute to their destination while 113 have reached the deboarding points. The first train was launched on May 1 coinciding with the Labour day.
Every special train has 24 coaches, each with a capacity of 72 seats. But the national transporter is allowing only 54 people in a coach to maintain social distancing norms by not allotting the middle berth to any passenger.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren said nearly three lakh people from his state, mostly labourers, stranded in various states due to the lockdown have registered to return home, and asserted they will be brought back without any "ifs and buts".
Jharkhand is the only state which has made advance payments for receiving its people coming from other states through 'Shramik Special' trains, according to railway sources.
In an interview to PTI, the chief minister said about 20,000 migrant labourers and students stranded in other states have already returned to the state since the Centre allowed the movement.
"About three lakh people have registered for returning home since we started the online process about four-five days ago. And the registration is still on," Soren said.
The Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court, meanwhile, has directed for deployment of police at all government hospitals in Mumbai where migrant workers gather to get medical certificates before travelling to their native places, and ensure that physical distancing norms are followed.
Justice Anil Kilor issued the order on Tuesday after hearing a petition filed by city resident C H Sharma, raising concerns over migrants gathering at government hospitals and not following the social distancing norms.
In Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has sought a list of migrant labourers from the state stranded in other state and held out an assurance they will all be brought back home.
Adityanath said, till now, 37 trains have arrived in the state carrying over 30,000 migrant labourers.
Besides them, last week over 30,000 labourers from Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh arrived in buses, he said.
"The Uttar Pradesh government intends to bring back all its migrant labourers from other states and for this district-wise list has been sought from them," Adityanath said.
"From the states, which are giving lists, we are immediately taking measures to bring them (migrants) back," he said.
The chief minister said on Thursday, 20 trains are due to arrive in Uttar Pradesh from other states with migrant labourers while on Friday 25 to 30 trains will come.
"Over 10,000 buses of the Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation(UPSRTC) have been deployed to take them to their homes," he said.
He said arrangements for medical examination and quarantine centres have been made for all those coming from other states, and they will be provided food packets and Rs 1,000.
The state is also preparing "skilling data" of the labourers so that after they complete home quarantine, they can be given jobs accordingly, Adityanath said.
"The capacity of quarantine centres in the state has now gone up to 12 lakh. For check-up of migrant labourers 50,000 medical teams have been constituted," he said, adding that district administrations have been asked to take care of all those coming from other states.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
