80 Shramik Specials likely to reach Jharkhand, govt miffed over train delays

RANCHI: The Jharkhand government is expecting a minimum of 80 special trains from various parts of the country in the next 10 days.

On Saturday, the Indian Railways announced that it will operate 2,600 Shramik specials to ferry approximately 36 lakh migrant workers. Jharkhand, which was the first state to receive a Shramik special on May 1 from Telangana, has received a little over 120 trains that ferried close to 2 lakh migrants.

“We are expecting at least 80 specials in Jharkhand in coming days,” transport secretary K Ravikumar told TOI.

However, officials in the state transport department hinted that the numbers may vary. Recently, seven Shramik specials bound for various stations of Jharkhand from New Delhi were cancelled after they did not have enough passengers.

The last two trains from the national capital, which had passenger capacities of close to 1,600, ferried 391 and 461 passengers, respectively.

However, Jharkhand government is upset with the Indian Railways over the delay in arrival of the Shramik specials. “On Saturday, a special from Borivalli in Mumbai was scheduled to arrive in Jasidih in Deoghar. But the train was late by 21 hours. Another train from Mumbai, which was due to arrive at Koderma railway station, was late by 72 hours. All special trains arriving to Jharkhand from the west are running late,” a senior official said.

In a statement issued on Sunday evening, the Indian Railways said the delay in running was due to congestion. Stating that 80% of the trains are headed to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, it added: “Convergence of trains to these destinations caused congestion in the network. Further, increased time taken in de-boarding of passengers due to the various health and social-distancing protocols at the stations is leading to congestion at terminals which further affects network congestion.” The New Delhi-bound Rajdhani Special Express was rescheduled four hours later due to the late arrival of the link rake on Sunday morning.

The delay in trains is also causing problems for railways. “Due to late running, we are also being forced to ramp up our catering and provide for meals such as lunch and dinner. Plus, the trains are being stopped at unplanned destinations to refill water due to the prolonged travel time,” said an official of Ranchi division of South Eastern Railways.