15th ‘shramik express’ with 1600 migrants onboard leaves for Bihar from Ferozepur Cantt railway station
State government bears expenditure worth Rs 10.80 lakh for free travel to onboard migrants
cityairnews
May 28, 2020 07:50
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Ferozepur: Owing to the intensified efforts of the state government led by the Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh the 15th ‘Shramik Express’ train with 1600 migrants onboard left for Bhagalpur district of Bihar from Ferozepur Cantt Railway station on Thursday.
The Punjab government was bearing the entire expenses of the train which was around Rs 10.80 lakh. The state government has till Thursday has flagged off a total of 15 trains to various locations in Utter Pradesh and Bihar with as many as 16,258 migrant laborers and a total running cost worth Rs. 1,13,36,000, which was borne by the state government to fulfill its commitment to facilitate the migrant laborers in this hour of crisis.
On the directives of Deputy Commissioner Ferozepur Mr Kulwant Singh, the Tehsildar Lakhwinder Singh, Kanoongo Rakesh Aggarwal, Kanoongo Santokh Singh Takhi along with other officials was overseeing the entire operations for smooth and hassle free movement of the migrants besides flagging off the 15th Shramik Express train. Apart from free travel the state government was also ensuring food for the migrants who were moving to their native state in the trains. Besides other facilities, water bottles, face masks were also provided to the passengers. Pertinently, the Captain Amarinder Singh led Punjab Government has sanctioned a whopping budget as a cost of transportation to ferry thousands of migrant laborers to their native states.
The Ferozepur administration has received the amount from the state government which was being paid to the Railways directly for providing tickets to the registered passengers thereby enabling them to go to their native states free of cost.
Likewise, a team of the Health department was screening every migrant who was coming to the station for boarding the train. The district administration had made adequate arrangements for maintaining social distancing amongst the passengers before boarding the train.
