The first Shramik train ferrying labour from Udaipur to Muzaffarnagar in Bihar will leave Udaipur at 5PM today.  Workers who have registered for the Muzaffarnagar route will be taken through this train.

Only those workers will be able to travel by this train, who have already registered themselves on the online portal provided earlier.  The registered workers will recieve a call from the administration and they will be reporting to the railway station.  Workers from labour colonies and industrial areas will be picked up from their respective zones and transported to the railway station.

Buses were deployed at Madri to transport workers till the railway station today.  The first bus left Madri at 1130am today.

District Collector Anandi has specified that only those workers who will recieve calls from the administration, will need to go to the railway station. Anyone who arrives at the raiway station without getting a call from the administration.will be dealt with strictly. Anandi also said that immediately after this, more trains will be readied for Uttar Pradesh and other areas in Bihar.

As per UdaipurTimes communication with the workers who had procured tickets for their native places from the administration, they had to pay the fare.  As per the guidelines and other  reports, this cost of transportation of workers was to be borne by the Indian Railways (85%) and the state government (15%). No clarity on this as available from the administration.

As statement from a railway spokesperson on Monday said, “As per the guidelines issued, the sending State will pay the consolidated fare to Railways. Sending State may decide to bear this cost or take it from passengers or take it from the receiving State after mutual consultation or may charge it to any fund. It is purely their prerogative,” This statement was severly criticised, as when the railway guidelines said that Local government authority shall hand over the tickets to passengers cleared by them and collect the ticket fare and hand over the total amount to Railways.

A Railways official, who did not want to be named, said the railways were charging around 15% of the costs incurred to run the Shramik trains from the State governments. “We are running Shramik Special trains only on request from the State governments. We are charging the States about 15% of the costs incurred to run these trains. The cost includes disinfecting the trains, water bottles, food, masks...and trains are returning empty under lock and key. Almost 85% of the cost is being borne by the railways,” the official stated.

Tickets would be issued to the State governments to be handed over to the passengers, the official added.

Another official pointed out that in most trains, including the first Shramik train from Telangana to Jharkhand as well as the one from Rajasthan to Jharkhand, passengers were not charged.