Around 6,000 Migrant Workers to Return to Bihar in Special Trains from Greater Noida on Saturday

Around 6,000 stranded migrant workers from Bihar are scheduled to return to their home state in four special trains from Greater Noida on Saturday amid the lockdown, officials said on Friday.

Officials in Gautam Buddh Nagar, adjoining Delhi in western Uttar Pradesh, are also trying to get one more train to ferry the stranded workers to Bihar and are awaiting permission from the railways, they said.

Thousands of workers and daily wage earners in Noida and Greater Noida were rendered jobless when the lockdown was imposed to break the chain of COVID-19 transmission.

"There are four special trains which will leave with registered migrant workers from Bihar on May 16. There will be around 1,500 passengers on each train, so approximately 6,000 people are scheduled to go back," Narendra Bhooshan, the nodal officer for COVID-19 response in Gautam Buddh Nagar, told PTI.

"We are also trying to get one more train so that more such migrant workers could return home. Any decision on that would depend on the Indian Railways' permission," Bhooshan said.

Two of the trains would leave from Dadri railway station to Aurangabad (11 am) and Sasaram (3 pm), while the other two from Dankaur railway station to Buxar (12 pm) and Siwan (4 pm), according to the district administration.

The announcement about the special trains was made late on Thursday night after a high-level meeting attended by District Magistrate Suhas L Y, Police Commissioner Alok Singh, Bhooshan and Government Railway Police (GRP) officials.

The decision is in compliance with a directive from the UP government, the district magistrate said in a statement issued late on Thursday.

However, the transport service will be allowed only for those Bihar migrants who have enrolled themselves on the Jansunwai portal, he said.

Those registered will get a detailed notification about the travel on their phone through SMS and the SMS will be valid as the ticket for the journey, he added.

The migrant workers who want to go back home and have not registered themselves are advised to immediately enrol themselves through the Jansunwai portal of the UP government, the administration said.