MADURAI: Southern Railways transported 3,54,150 migrants through 265 Shramik Express trains from Tamil Nadu in the months of May and June. For this, the Tamil Nadu government paid the Southern Railways Rs 34,60,93,845, the Union Ministry of Railways said in response to an RTI query from one Pandiraja, a resident of Tenkasi.
After the Central government imposed a national lockdown at the end of March this year, migrant workers hailing from Maharashtra, Bihar and other states found themselves stranded in Tamil Nadu. Many of these workers were employed at brick kilns, construction sites and textiles mills and, with no work or pay, became desperate to return to their villages.
According to the Union Railways Ministry, migrants were transported to cities by the concerned district administration on special buses. They underwent medical checkups before being sent to the concerned railway junction.
The Southern Railways operated 265 Shramik special trains from Tamil Nadu and 3,54,150 migrants travelled back to their native places in May and June by train.
From Madurai Junction, 11 Shramik Express trains were operated, Trains were also operated from Chennai Central, Coimbatore, Tiruvallur, Chennai Egmore, Tirunelveli, Nagercoil and Ramanathapuram. The highest number of trains in the country -- 34 -- were operated from Coimbatore and Chennai Central Junctions, the ministry said.