Around 1,200 people from Bengal who were stranded in Ajmer for nearly a month since the nationwide lockdown had started on March 25 reached Dankuni in Hooghly on Tuesday morning on a special train.

Most of them were pilgrims. Around 150 were migrant workers who were employed in the Rajasthan town.

The train reached Dankuni station, in Hooghly district, at 10.45am, nearly 24 hours after it had left Ajmer. The passengers were accommodated in 24 non-AC sleeper coaches and there was only one operational stop during the journey, railway officials said.

As the train chugged in, a team of senior state government officials stood to receive the passengers amid showers of petals. As soon as they stepped out of the station, each was handed a packet containing snacks and a bottle of water by transport department officials.

Then they were told to head towards a health camp. On the way, their body temperature was checked with a thermal scanner.

At the medical camps, doctors screened the passengers for Covid-19 symptoms. They were asked whether they had any symptom of the disease such as fever, cough or breathlessness. Health department officials noted down the phone number of each passenger and doctors offered them medicines.

“The passengers were given hydroxychloroquine tablets,” said Hooghly district magistrate Y. Ratnakar Rao. “Those who did not have any symptom of Covid-19 were handed over a certificate saying that the person was asymptomatic. He or she was then asked to be in home quarantine for 14 days.”

Over 60 state buses were kept ready to take the passengers home to Malda, Murshidabad, Howrah, Hooghly, North and South 24-Parganas and also Calcutta. They were asked to maintain physical distancing on the buses.

“The bus conductor wouldn't even allow us to talk among ourselves,” said Seikh Allauddin. 'The arrangement by the state government was very warm and everyone was made to feel comfortable,” said the resident of Gayeshpur in Nadia.

Allauddin had gone to Ajmer Sharif with Samsher Ali Biswas and Abdul Biswas, both from his locality, on a pilgrimage on March 20. “It was very difficult there during the lockdown. We were not even allowed to step out for a cup of tea. It seemed we would have to stay at Ajmer for life,” Alauddin said.

Health department officials said healthcare workers in the home districts of the passengers would keep tabs on their condition for the next 14 days. In Calcutta, the responsibility has been assigned to a team from the Calcutta Municipal Corporation.

“I can’t be thankful enough to the state government and to the chief minister for arranging for our return,” said Samir Ali from Topsia. The call centre executive had gone on a pilgrimage to Ajmer in early March. His father Akhtar Ali would call him up every day. Mother Sony Ali would do so at times.

The parents were elated on Tuesday afternoon. Their son is finally back home.