BENGALURU: High drama ensued on the streets of Bengaluru on Monday night as over 200 migrants walked over 20 km with their luggage to the Krantivira Sangolli Rayanna railway station hoping to board special trains for them. However, all migrant special trains presently run only from Chikkabanavar railway station and Malur railway station in Kolar.
They had come walking from Sarjapur, Marthahalli and Attibele with luggage in hand on the false assumption that they could leave by trains to their homes in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh from the station. According to Maitreyi Krishnan, Executive Member of All India Central Council for Trade Union, Karnataka,”We received a call around 9.15 pm that police were chasing hundreds of workers on Monday night near Mysore Bank Circle and we reached there.
Each one had paid someone `100 for filling up the forms on the state government’s Seva Sindhu portal. They were asked by their local panchayats that trains would be available for them from KSR station,” she said.
A top railway source said that police had told them they should not walk on the streets like this and had asked them to return to their homes as trains were not running from Majestic.
“There was high drama and commotion after that as the migrants refused to leave after having walked so far. Hence, police were ordering them to leave,” he said.
Krishnan said the migrants finally had to relent. “They were finally sent in mini trucks and buses, packed like sheep, to the houses from where they came walking,” she said. The AITUC has put out a series of tweets urging Minister Suresh Kumar to help the migrants out.
KSRTC buses operating from 8am to 6pm
83,880 passengers transported since May 2On Tuesday,
488 buses left Bengaluru with 24,000 passengers on board