Gujarat CM honours four Railways DRM for transporting stranded labourers to their native states

Vijaybhai Rupani Chief Minister of Gujarat felicitated and honoured four DRMs on behalf of Team WR, with appreciation certificates. The felicitation is in appreciation for Western Rly’s excellent initiative and coordination in arranging the travels of more than 14.56 lakh migrant labourers and their families stranded in Gujarat due to nationwide lockdown to their native states.

Alok Kansal – General Manager of Western Rly, has congratulated the entire Team WR for this successful execution of this complete mission and has also appreciated the efforts of all the Principal Heads of Departments & all the six DRMs of W. Rly alongwith their respective teams, in this regard for their commendable contribution.

According to a press release issued by WR CPRO Ravinder Bhakar, labourers from various states had arrived in cities like Surat, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot, Bhavnagar and other cities of Gujarat in large numbers for employment opportunities and were earning their livelihood. But, due to the nationwide lockdown declared by the Government of India, to control the spreading of Coronavirus pandemic and with the further extensions of the lockdown period, these migrants, mostly daily wage earners, were finding it very difficult to sustain themselves & their families.

Hence, when the Ministry of Railways started running Shramik Special trains with effect from 1st May, 2020, these labourers were transported to their hometowns by running of as many as 999 Special Shramik Trains from different areas of Gujarat to various states of India. Out of them, 558 trains were sent to Uttar Pradesh, 223 to Bihar, 91 to Odisha and also to other states. In total, approximately 14.56 lakh labourers were transported within a span of one month by maintaining all norms of social distancing and providing other necessary facilities.

In recognition of this outstanding work by the Western Railway, CM Rupani felicitated and honoured the entire Team Western Railway. On behalf of Team WR, Deepak Kumar Jha – Divisional Railway Manager of Ahmedabad Division, Parmeshwar Funkwal – Divisional Railway Manager of Rajkot Division, Pratik Goswami – Divisional Railway Manager of Bhavnagar Division and Devendra Kumar – Divisional Railway Manager of Vadodara Division received this felicitation with citation certifications at the state capital Gandhinagar on 3rd June, 2020.

The occasion was also graced by Vipul Mitra, Additional Chief Secretary (Labour and Employment) and Coordinator of Special Shramik Trains for Labourers of other states, alongwith other senior officers.

Bhakar stated that lakhs of migrant workers and their families were benefitted at large scale, by the Indian Railway’s decision to run Shramik Special trains. In continuation to this decision, Western Rly has operated total 1215 Shramik Special trains from 2.5.2020 to 2.6.2020, which have carried 18.25 lakh passengers to their desired destinations. Out of these 1215 special trains, Mumbai division has handled highest 706 trains, Ahmedabad division 256, Vadodara division 99, Bhavnagar division 30, Rajkot division 117 and Ratlam division 6 Shramik spl ttrains.

He stated that this Mission Shramik special trains, was successfully executed by Western Rly with meticulous planning and extra ordinary hard work by all concerned departments in a very short span, on a war footing manner. These special trains were operated by maintaining proper social distancing norms, as well as proper thermal screening of passengers, was also ensured before boarding the train. During the journey, all the passengers were also given free meals and packaged drinking water.

Vadodara Division runs 99 Shramik Special Trains from Anand, Vadodara, Ankleshwar, Bharuch, Godhra and Nadiad stations. 1,37,920 migrant workers were sent to their home states of UP, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Manipur, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal by these special trains.