About 1.06 crore immigrants left their cities of work and returned to their home countries during the national lockdown, the government said Tuesday.
- This number includes those who have traveled on foot, said Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways, V K Singh inLok Sabha.
- According to official figures, 63.19 lakhs of passengers traveled to their home countries on 4,621 Shramik Special trains between May and August, the Ministry of Railways recently told parliament.
- Even when Shramik’s special services were in operation, many migrant workers were seen traveling on foot or in commercial trucks to reach their destinations, mainly in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
- In major cities, migrants were often seen walking the roads in groups, carrying their belongings, during the national lockdown, especially before the start of rail services on May 1.
- There were also traffic accidents that resulted in the death of several migrants. There was a case of 16 migrant workers being run over by an empty train while sleeping on the tracks near Aurangabad in Maharashtra.
- However, the Ministry of Road and Highway Transportation said it did not keep specific data on the number of migrants who died in traffic accidents during the shutdown.
- According to the available figures, there were a total of 29,415 deaths in 81,385 traffic accidents between March and June of this year.
- “However, this ministry does not keep separate data on migrant workers who died in traffic accidents during the shutdown,” Singh said in his written response to questions from MPs Dean Kuriakose, DK Suresh and Mohammad. Jawed.
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