PATNA: It was an emotional homecoming for more than a thousand migrants, who arrived by the first Sharmik Special train from Jaipur in Rajasthan to Danapur in Bihar on Saturday.
With tears in his eyes, Rohan Kumar (name changed) of Vaishali district said: "Ab ham log naya jivan ka shuruvat mahsus kar rahein hai. Mar jana pasand karunga yahaan lekin ab na jaunga dusre desh."(Now we are experiencing the beginning of new life. I would like to die here but will never go elsewhere again.)
Altogether 1187 migrants belonging to 28 districts of Bihar arrived by the Sharmik Special train from Rajasthan, where they were engaged in different jobs.
As soon as the train carrying them halted at platform number 5, the state health minister Mangal Pandey and other officials of the Railways and the Patna district administration welcomed them and asked them to head to the nearby screening centres maintaining proper distancing in queues.
In each of the 22 coaches of the Sharmik Special train, migrants were made to sit after maintaining proper distancing and provided food and other essentials, sources insisted.
A woman, who had a kid on her lap, when asked said God has given a new life to her family members. "We have no word to thank the god," she said, while walking towards the screening site.
Elaborate arrangements to thermal screen each of the migrants were made at the nearby railway stadium. The Danapur railway station of East Central Railway had been sanitised too.
Patna DM Kumar Ravi said all the migrants will be sent to quarantine centres in their respective districts after they underwent screening and medical tests.
He said that 100 buses have been arranged to take them to quarantine centres in each of the 28 districts from where they hailed.
The district administration had also summoned 50 jawans of Indian Army to assist the cops in safely deboarding the migrants and to take care of their immediate needs.
Official sources said that the biggest number of migrants - 175 - belonged to Rohtas district followed by other districts including Kishanganj, Muzaffarpur, Saran, Aurangabad and Gopalganj.
All the migrants will be kept in quarantine for the next 21 days and they will be given clothes, utensils, food and other amenities for free.
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