NEW DELHI: The first special train from Delhi carrying around 1,200 migrants who were stranded in the national capital due to the COVID-19-induced lockdown will leave for Madhya Pradesh on Thursday night, officials said "About 1,200 migrant workers from Madhya Pradesh staying in shelter homes in Delhi will leave for their native state," an official said.
The Delhi government is also in talks with Bihar and Uttar Pradesh to run special trains for migrant workers from the two states who wish to return, the official added.
The special train will leave for Madhya Pradesh at 8 pm on Thursday.
The official said that migrant workers leaving for Madhya Pradesh are being screened by authorities.
Around 10,000 migrant workers are staying in government-run shelters in the national capital.
Recently, the government had appointed Principal Secretary (Social Welfare) P K Gupta as the nodal officer to facilitate the movement of migrant workers to their native states.
"Migrant workers who wish to go to their native states will be sent.
We are also in talks with governments of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh," another official said.
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced a nationwide lockdown in wake of coronavirus outbreak in March, thousands of migrated workers started leaving for their native places.
However, they were stopped by authorities and shifted to makeshift shelters across the city.