Kolkata, May 3: The West Bengal government on Sunday issued a statement to inform that a train with around 1,200 migrants will leave from Ajmer in Rajasthan tomorrow and reach the state on the morning of May 5. The train is being run on the special request of West Bengal and Rajasthan governments to ferry back the stranded migrant labourers and students. Railways Tells States to Collect Ticket Fare from Migrant Workers, Other Stranded Travellers of Shramik Trains.

The train will halt at two stops in West Bengal, the first being Durgapur followed by Dankuni. The basic ticket fare, along with Rs 30 superfast charge and Rs 20 meal charge, would be collected before boarding by the Rajasthan government -- in accordance to the Indian Railways' circular.

"West Bengal government is bringing back around 1,200 stranded migrant labourers of Bengal from Rajasthan by a special train that will leave Ajmer tomorrow morning and will run non-stop to arrive here in the morning of 5th May" said a statement issued by the Information & Cultural Affairs Department.

Update by ANI

The Indian Railways began running special trains from Friday, based on the requests of state governments, to bring back stranded migrants. The first train plied from Telangana to Jharkhand, followed five more trains which brought back labourers of Odisha, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh from Maharashtra, Gujarat and Kerala.

The migrants across the country were left stranded after the imposition of lockdown to contain coronavirus transmission. Due to the restrictions, economic activities were grounded and most of them were left cash-crunched. The labourers were constantly demanding the state and central governments to facilitate their returns to the native provinces.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 03, 2020 08:41 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).