The Indian Railways is not only ferrying lakhs of migrant labourers during the lockdown but also providing free food to the labourers in distress.

Since May 1, the railway had launched Shramik Special trains to carry migrant labourers from the different parts of the country, especially from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi and Tamil Nadu towards Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha and Bengal.

According to data available with the Chakradharpur railway division, around 5.68 lakh migrant workers travelled to various destinations falling under this division.

The workers were given food at the stations falling under the division, which has its headquarters at Chakradharpur in West Singhbhum, 75km from here.

The senior divisional commercial manager, Chakradhapur, Manish Pathak, said over 5.68 lakhs migrant workers had got down at various stations falling between Ghatshila and Jharsuguda in Odisha.

“In all, 350 Shramik Special trains had arrived at Tatanagar, Chakradharpur, Rourkela and other stations from May 1 till this date. On an average, 1,500 migrants travelled by these trains and got down at the stations. The total number of such passengers was 5.68 lakhs,” Pathak told The Telegraph Online.

As the Shramik Special trains arrived at different times, the railway officials ensured that those who got down were provided breakfast, lunch or dinner packets suitably.

He pointed out that in the mid-May, when the flow of Shramik Special trains was very high, as many as 35 such trains had arrived in Chakradharpur division, carrying over 50,000 migrants.

“Though the Shramik Specials had arrived at four stations, namely Tatanagar, Chakradharpur, Rourkela and Jharsuguda, a huge crowd of the migrants had formed at each of these stations. Providing food packets and water bottles to each of the passengers had become a tough job, but still the dedicated people of the railways and several NGOs had successfully handled the situation,” Pathak added.

Giving an account of the food provisions to the migrants, Pathak said the food was being arranged through different channels.

“The arrangement of food would be made departmentally, through the vendors of IRCTC and various NGOs and social organisations like Red Cross, Marwari Yuva Manch,

Chambers of Commerce in Jamshedpur, Rourkela and Jharsuguda, but the bulk of the provisions were made by the IRCTC,” the senior railway official said.