West to East: First special train to North East departs from Gujarat

Vadodara: The first special train from Gujarat to the North East, carrying stranded passengers from Manipur, Sikkim, and Meghalaya, departed from Vadodara on Friday.

Vipul Mittra, additional chief secretary, Labour and Employment department, said that the train will crisscross the entire breadth of the country, and cover a distance of 2,200 km in 40 hours.

“We have facilitated more than 400 special trains in the last fortnight, but this one was especially challenging. Unlike other states, the number of workers from the North East is limited, and it required extra efforts to register them, secure clearances from multiple states, gather the passengers from different districts in Gujarat, and execute the trip,” Mittra, who is also the state’s nodal officer to facilitate the movement of migrant workers, tourists, pilgrims, students, and other stranded persons to their home states in special trains.

Mittra said that coordination and teamwork of multiple state-level offices, districts offices in Gujarat, three North-Eastern states, and Railways, enabled the completion of all work, ranging from passes, train tickets, screening of passengers, etc.

“The Gujarat government has run more than 430 trains till Saturday evening and facilitated the return of nearly 6 lakh people to their home states since May 2,” he said.

Of the 430 trains, the maximum trains have travelled to Uttar Pradesh, followed by Bihar, Odisha, MP, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, etc.

The maximum number of trains have departed from Surat, followed by Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot, Kutch, Valsad, Morbi, Palanpur, Navsari, Bharuch, Anand, etc.