NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court was informed by the Centre that it ran 4,228 Shramik Special trains till June 3 to transport 57.22 lakh migrant workers and the data presented showed that Gujarat requisitioned the maximum 1,026 trains to send migrant workers home, followed by Maharashtra which needed 802.
The Union government told the SC in an affidavit through solicitor general Tushar Mehta that UP and Bihar received the largest number of Shramik Specials — 1,695 and 1,519 respectively — from various states. The two states accounted for more than 80% of migrant workers who went back home from industrial units across India, he said.
Mehta told a bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, S K Kaul and M R Shah that the railways, on an average, ran 93 Shramik Specials daily between May 1 and 19, of which 72 were headed to UP and Bihar. The number of trains increased to 256 a day between May 20 and 24, of which 212 took migrants to UP and Bihar, he added.
The maximum number of trains originated from Gujarat (1,026), followed by Maharashtra (802), Punjab (417), Delhi (242), Tamil Nadu (240), Karnataka (231), Telangana (162) and Rajasthan (128). Interestingly, UP and Bihar also sent out 294 Shramik Specials each after May 1, the affidavit said.
The Centre said, “Railways also ran 3,670 parcel trains covering 96 routes to deliver agricultural produce, medicines and other essential items (1.22 lakh tonnes).
“Railways have not allowed any shortage of essential commodities like coal for power plants, foodgrain, fertilisers etc… In fact, foodgrain loading (4,532 rakes and 12.2 MT) during lockdown period is almost double the loading achieved during the corresponding period last year.”
