COVID-19: Train ‘logjam’ adds to migrant labourers’ woes in India

Patna: Hapless migrants in India boarding labourers’ special trains to reach their hometowns now have a new problem to grapple with: Trains getting diverted midway and ending up at the wrong destinations, thereby further delaying the journey.
Migrant workers have been left stranded at various Indian cities and towns for more than two months now due to the nationwide lockdown in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. On Sunday, around 500 migrants stranded in Bihar boarded a Shramik Special (labourers’ special) train at Samastipur Station to reach Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay (erstwhile Mughal Sarai) Junction in Uttar Pradesh. They got furious when the train reached Muzaffarpur station in Bihar instead and were told to deboard. Angry passengers created a ruckus at the station and refused to get out of the bogies. They even refused to listen to the appeal of the local police who were rushed to the spot to calm them down. 
Eventually, railway officials relented and ordered for the train to be dispatched to its original destination.
‘Clueless about the route’

A similar incident occurred last Saturday when a special train ferrying migrants from Mumbai to Madhubani in Bihar reached Odisha instead. “The train had departed from Bandra Terminus [in Mumbai] for Madhubani at 5.30pm on May 21, but the passengers were clueless about the train’s route. It ultimately landed up at Kustaur Station after crossing Rourkela in Odisha,” said one of the passengers, Pramod Kumar, who was on that train.

Railway authorities have offered a bizarre logic for trains ‘straying’ to locations other than their designated destinations, saying that these special trains do not have fixed routes or schedules. “As the nation is passing through an unprecedented crisis due to Covid-19, some trains had to be rerouted due to congestion on certain routes. Still, Railways is trying its best to arrange for required facilities for the passengers,” East-Central Railway’s chief public relations officer Rajesh Kumar told the media.

Financial and mental stress

Bihar Opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav, meanwhile, has slammed the Indian Railways for its irresponsible act, causing immense inconvenience to poor migrants who are already under a lot of financial and mental stress due to the lockdown. “Indian Railways’ irresponsible and inhumane face is there for all of us to see. First, passengers are compelled to wait for ten to 30 hours or more in transit and not provided with food and water. Then, they are ferried to unknown destinations. Aren’t these labourers humans?” Tejashwi wondered.

Mad scramble

He also criticised the Indian Railways for the way trains with final destinations at various places in Bihar have been reaching locations outside the state. “The government must explain why this is happening in ‘Digital India’? Poor passengers are being charged premium fares and yet there is no food or water for a 24 to 30-hour journey and now this! Is there any further humiliation left?” he asked.

According to an estimate, more than six million migrant workers from Bihar are stranded in various parts of the country. There is a mad scramble among them to reach home. A report from the state government issued on Sunday said, so far, 1.17 million migrant workers have reached Bihar on 805 trains while another 785,400 migrant workers are scheduled to reach the state on 476 trains in the next three-four days.