The Bihar government on Friday welcomed the Centre’s decision to send migrant workers back to their home states by special trains. All the people arriving via the special train running from Jaipur to Patna will undergo screening at Patna railway station.
As per reports once the people arrive at the Patna station they will be taken to their respective districts by buses, where they would be quarantined for 21 days at the block headquarters. There would be screening at the inter-state borders from where they would be ferried to their respective districts for quarantining.
Deputy CM expresses gratitude to centre
Bihar Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi expressed his gratitude to the centre for allowing special trains to ferry migrants. The Dy CM said the Opposition had been criticising the government for not sending buses. It would have impractical to send buses to bring migrants from 1,500-3,000 km away. State minister Neeraj Kumar also said Bihar is among the few states to possess district-wise data of migrants stuck in other parts of the country.
The Bihar government on Thursday urged the Centre to allow running of special trains to facilitate the return of people stranded in different parts of the country in wake of the revised lockdown guidelines released by the Union Home Ministry. Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi made an appeal to the effect in a video message claiming that depending on the road route could take months because of the limited availability and capacity of buses.
“We will welcome all our people, willing to come back, from any part of the country. Arrangements like screening, home quarantine and institutional quarantine are in place. We have also appointed Pratyay Amrit (senior IAS officer of Principal Secretary rank) as the nodal officer,” he said.
COVID-19 cases in Bihar
Bihar has so far reported 426 cases of COVID-19, of which 82 patients have recovered and two have died. India reported 1,993 new cases of novel Coronavirus infection in the last 24 hours, the Health Ministry informed on Friday, posting the sharpest increase in cases yet. The total number of COVID-19 confirmed cases stands at 35,365; while 25,148 people are under active medical supervision.