No Shramik Special trains being run, planned, clarifies Indian Railways
1 min read . Updated: 10 Apr 2021, 10:11 PM IST
Premium- Indian Railways clarified that there is no plan to run any Shramik Special trains as of now
Indian Railways' Central Railway zone which is headquartered in Mumbai has said that there is no plan to run Shramik Special trains. Amid the rising cases of covid-19 in Maharashtra, many migrant workers are fearing of a second lockdown in the state which has resulted in misinformation of Indian Railways planning to operate Shramik Special trains.
In a tweet from its official Twitter handle, Central Railway tweeted," Central Railway FACTCHECK. There is some misinformation in social media that Shramik Special trains are being run. It is clarifed that 'No such shramik special trains' are run oplanned.Railways are running only special trains in summer. Please do not fall prey to rumours."
Indian Railways had operated a total of 4,615 Shramik Special trains have been , taking over 63 lakh people home during the coronavirus lockdown last year.
The Railways started Shramik Specials on May 1 last year to transport stranded migrant workers to their native states after thousands tried to reach home on foot due to the lockdown.
The Ministry of Railways has said it subsidised the ticket prices for migrant workers by agreeing to pay 85 per cent, while state governments have been asked to pay the remaining 15 per cent.
"The last Shramik Special train ran on July 9 and with that we presume that we have met the demand of the states regarding these trains. However, if there is more such demand, we will run these services again," former Railway Board CEO VK Yadav said in an online press conference last year.
He said that while in May, the Railways operated 4,109 trains, in June it came down to 493 trains and in July only 13 trains have been run so far.
Most of these trains originated from Gujarat (1,027), followed by Maharashtra (844) and were mostly destined towards Uttar Pradesh (1,712) and Bihar (1,507), officials said.
