Kerala CM seeks special trains from Centre to transport stranded migrant labourers

Welcoming the Centre's decision to allow inter-state movement of migrant labourers, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday demanded special non-stop trains for them.The Chief Minister requested the Centre to direct the Indian Railways to run special non-stop trains to transport these migrant labourers to their native States.

Welcoming the Centre's decision to allow inter-state movement of migrant labourers, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday demanded special non-stop trains for them.

He also said that the Central government's order to transport the stranded persons by buses is impractical.

"There are 3.6 lakh migrant workers staying in 20,826 camps spread across Kerala. Most of them want to go back to their native places. A large percentage of the guest labourers in Kerala are from West Bengal, Assam, Odisha, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh," said the Chief Minister while speaking to reporters here.

"It will not be practical or feasible to transport such a large number of people over such long distances cutting across several states by buses. It would involve massive logistic problems, besides the high risk of the spread of the disease and hardship to the people," he added.

The Chief Minister requested the Centre to direct the Indian Railways to run special non-stop trains to transport these migrant labourers to their native States.

He said that Kerala Chief Secretary Tom Jose has also written to Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla in this regard.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has allowed the movement of such people -- including migrant labours, workers, students, tourists and others -- and also provided the procedure for the same.

( With inputs from ANI )