Over 8.5K migrant workers found on Delhi-NCR rly tracks
New Delhi: A day after 16 migrant workers were crushed to death by a freight train between Jalna and Aurangabad in Maharashtra, the Railway Protection Force here found 15 labourers on a railway track connecting Delhi and Ghaziabad. "Sir, we are following the tracks to reach home," the workers are learnt to have told RPF personnel who discovered them.
According to an RPF official, at least five of them had no smartphone and were not aware of the registration process. The official added that these workers were then moved to the nearest shelter home and were told about the Shramik Special trains.
However, this is not an isolated incident on the tracks in and around the Capital. According to data accessed by the Millennium Post, RPF personnel had found 8,529 migrant workers navigating through railway tracks of the Delhi division from a few days before the second lockdown began to May 9, all of whom were shifted into shelter homes.
"From Old Delhi area-4,000 labourers, Shahdara-1,050, Kisanganj-900, Aadarsh Nagar-800, Sarai Rohilla-600, Gurugram-450, New Delhi/Lahori Gate- 200, Safdarjung-110, Sahibabad-100, Ghaziabad-100, Patel Nagar-150, Faridabad-34 and over 30 labourers from different areas were found walking on or near tracks," RPF data shows.
"They have one thing in mind that through tracks they can reach their homes in other states. These labourers first collected food from food distribution points and then start walking on the tracks with the hope to reach their homes. We stopped them and shifted them to shelter homes," an official said. Senior Divisional Security Commissioner AN Jha said they are patrolling the tracks regularly.
After the Aurangabad incident, a letter was written by the Chief Railway Safety Commissioner to Chairman, Railway Board with directions to curb such types of unfortunate incidents.
"Every railway servant who observes any unusual circumstances likely to interfere with the safe running of trains, or the safety of the public, shall take immediate steps such as the circumstances of the case may demand, to prevent the accident, and where necessary advise the nearest Station Master by the quickest possible means," reads the gist of the letter.
The letter also revealed that apparently, the affected persons had gathered along the track under the impression that train services had been suspended, whereas freight, parcel and special trains had been running.
Security Commissioner Harish Papola said: "We have marked few areas and have deployed our personnel and GRP on tracks to ensure no one comes through tracks."
