3 Karnataka special trains chug 4,196 migrants home

Three Sharmik special trains departed from Karnataka with 4,196 migrants to Odisha, Rajashtan and Bihar, an official said on Wednesday.

"Wednesday's first Sharmik special train from Hosur to Muzaffarpur with 1,589 passengers departed at 6.53 p.m.," said a South Western Railway (SWR) zone official.

According to SWR, Hosur Corporation commissioner was one of the providers of victuals for migrants in the second train.

Each passenger was provided with five chapatis (Indian bread), one packet lemon rice, one packet tamarind rice and two litres of water.

Similarly, Hosur Corona taskforce management has supplied five chapatis and one bread packet each to the passengers.

Hosur Muslim Jamaat has also sponsored tamarid rice with pickle, one biscuit packet, one banana, one sweet lime and a half litre water bottle to each passenger and half litre milk for children.

The second special train departed from Mangaluru to Bhadrak in Odisha at 9 p.m. with 1,433 migrants.

Wednesday's last special train departed from KSR Bengaluru to Jodhpur in Rajasthan at 10 p.m. with 1,174 passengers.

Incidentally, the number of migrant trains and passengers have diminished in numbers significantly in the past 3-4 days.

From more than 10 trains and more than 10,000 migrants a day on average, the trains have plummeted to below five with less than 5,000 migrants returning home.

The special trains are being run following the Ministry of Home Affairs' permission for the movement of stranded migrant labourers, workers, students, tourists and others.