Shramik trains will be provided within 24 hrs after demand is raised: Railways to states

The Indian Railways has informed the state governments that it shall continue to provide Shramik Special train within 24 hours after the demand is received from the states. The Ministry of Railways has requested state governments to indicate their requirements about Shramik Special trains and see that projected demand for movement of residual persons by rail mode is well chalked out and determined.

"Indian Railways is committed to continue providing comfortable and safe movement of migrants through Shramik Special Trains as required by states," the Ministry said in a statement.

The Railways claimed that so far, the state-run transporter has run more than 4347 Shramik Special trains to ferry approximately 60 lakh persons to their destination states. The service was started on May 1, after weeks of nationwide media coverage of the dire conditions of out-of-job migrant workers walking back to their native towns as the coronavirus-induced lockdown battered livelihoods in cities.

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Letters to states

According to the Ministry, Railway Board Chairman wrote letters to the states on May 29 and June 3 on the subject and emphasised that “Indian Railways will provide the desired number of Shramik Special trains immediately within 24 hours of the request”. A letter has been sent to Chief Secretaries of the states emphasizing the same on Tuesday too.

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SC sets task for states

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a few directions to States and the Centre on how the long-standing migrant crisis needs to be tackled in the coming days. The order comes in after the three-judge bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and MR Shah decided to take suo moto cognisance of the issue "due to their own conscience". 

• The Supreme Court directed all States to initiate the process of identification and registration of all stranded migrants and transport them back to their home States within a period of 15 days. 
• The Centre was directed to ensure that any demand made by the States for additional trains to facilitate the movement of the migrants, should be met by the Centre within 24-hours of such demand being made. 

READ | Supreme Court Asks States To Send Back Migrants In 15 Days; Govt To Provide Employment

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