Shramik Special Train With 334 Migrants From Tamil Nadu Reaches Odisha

Bhadrak: Two Shramik Special trains carrying over 334 Odia migrant workers from Salem and Madurai in Tamil Nadu arrived at the Bhadrak and Balasore railway stations on Thursday.

They were working in Tamil Nadu before the lockdown was announced. The workers were reportedly starving since many days and had no money also.

A small number of migrants were reported to have boarded the train that was travelling from Salem to Balasore. 175 of them got off at Bhadrak. Of them, 172 migrants are from Bhadrak district, two from Balasore and one from Keonjhar.

Out of the 172 migrants, there were 13 from Bhadrak, 59 from Basudevpur block, 10 from Basudevpur municipality, 13 from Bant, nine from Dhamnagar, 17 from Bhandaripokhari, 39 from Tihidi, eight from Chandbali and five from Chandbali NAC.

Another train came from Madurai to Balasore. 159 people got off at Bhadrak. One of them is a migrant from Keonjhar district while the others are from Bhadrak . They have all been sent to a quarantine centre on special buses.

For smooth transit of the migrants to the quarantine centres and contain the spread of COVID-19, Section 144 was imposed in and around the railway station area.

Notably, it is mandatory for every passenger boarding the train to wear a face mask, ensure social distancing norms and hygiene. Meals and drinking water are provided to them by government officials.