HYDERABAD: Seperntine queues were seen outside the Secunderabad, Nampally and Kacheguda stations where over 13,000 people flocked to catch the first set of special trains to head back to various parts of the country. People turned up as early as 11 am for a 4 pm train, waiting in the scorching sun, huddled under trees with no social distancing maintained.
Many migrant workers who had registered for the Shramik trains and had not received a confirmation call, were forced to shell out big sums to travel back home in these special trains.Speaking to Express, Palash, a migrant worker said, "Our Shramik train got cancelled due to Cyclone Amphan. We had to pay our landlord an entire month of rent to stay back for just a few days. I had to ask my family in West Bengal for money to book the special train tickets."
Over 100 migrant workers with their families camped outside the three stations, hoping to get a confirmed reservation ticket. Jogen and his wife, both migrant labourers from Patna, along with their five-month-old daughter, pooled in the last of their savings to buy a ticket, as they had not received a notification for the Shramik train.
Many passengers stacked up on food and water fearing the same fate as some Shramik trains that ended up reaching the wrong destination. Padmaja, a student travelling back to Howrah, West Bengal, said, "We are travelling with 10 bottles of water for each of us, and enough food for three days, in case the train takes a detour and the journey gets extended, as reported in other states."
Even though the government has asked passengers over the age of 60 and under the age of 10 to not travel, many senior citizens and toddlers were spotted at the Secunderabad railway station. A frail, 70-year-old woman, was spotted hysterically running around the reservation counter, with her luggage. "I had a train to Vijayawada on Monday morning. I missed the train. I need to go back to AP, to collect four months worth of pension. I need to get a new ticket," she told Express.
Many were worried that they did not have smart phones to download the mandatory Arogya Setu app. However, there was no checking of the Arogya Setu app. Only thermal screening was carried out and luggage was not disinfected.