Confusion, chaos as 10,000 migrants try to get on trains back home

Chaos descended at Ghanta Ghar Ramlila Ground on Monday as thousands of migrant workers poured in to get boarding passes for three trains that were bound for Bihar. The Ghaziabad district has been running ‘Shramik Special’ trains to Bihar and east UP since May 15. On Monday three trains were bound to depart for eastern UP towns of Gorakhpur, Varanasi and Prayagraj from Kavi Nagar railway station. Three other trains bound for Muzaffarpur (10am), Raxaul (12 noon) and Patna (1.30pm) were scheduled to depart from Ghanta Ghar.

The registration of passengers for Bihar bound trains was being done at Ghanta Ghar, while that of trains leaving for eastern UP cities was being done at Kavi Nagar, Ramlila Ground.

“The chaos was primarily due to migrant workers who had managed to cross over from Delhi and other nearby areas. Many came with the hope that documentation for all trains will be done at Ghanta Ghar. We tried our best to control the crowd, but the crowd swelled to around 10,000 people soon,” said Sanjay Kumar, officer on special duty from Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA), who was one of the officers supervising operations at Ghanta Ghar.

Official sources said that workers who had not registered online had come to the ground. The crowd swelled when UP Roadways buses brought along more people on Monday morning from shelter homes in Ghaziabad.

Workers like Suman Kumar who had come from Chijarsi, Noida, did not manage to get a boarding pass for the train leaving for Patna and was left stranded at Ghanta Ghar, amid the chaos.

“I left my room three days ago and have been since trying ti get a train or a bus back to my hometown. But there was no information about any buses or trains. Then someone told that there trains leaving from Ghaziabad station and registrations were being done here. So, i came here on Monday morning and saw that there was a crowd of almost 10,000 people and no social distancing was maintained. They were almost climbing over each other in trying to get a boarding pass,” he added.

“I along with 36 of my co-workers came here from Usmanpur in Delhi but could not get a boarding pass for any train due to the huge rush. There was chaos all around. When our turn came for getting documentation completed, the officials told us that the occupancy in trains was full,” said Iftekhar Alam, a migrant worker from Kishanganj in Bihar.

A source claimed that the Aarogya Setu app indicated presence of a Covid-19 positive person in the periphery of 500 metres of the Ramlila ground.

The officials said that three trains to Bihar were to have occupancy of 1200 passengers each while three trains to UP were to have an occupancy of 900 passengers each.

“We were operating six trains and these are catering to all bona fide passengers. There were hardly 400-500 extra people who had come in,” district magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey told reporters at Kavi Nagar Ramlila Ground during his inspection on Monday.

A group of about 30 to 35 migrant workers, who work at Loha Mandi in Ghaziabad and wanted to go to Chatarpur in Madhya Pradesh, said that they had been doing rounds of Ghanta Ghar and Kavi Nagar in a bid to get information about trains.

“It has been two days since and we have been running around to find out about trains leaving for Chatarpur. A child in our group is not well and his mother has been carrying him along in this scorching heat. The police abuse us if they see us on roads,” said Vandana Rajput, one of the migrant workers of the group.

SSP Kalanidhi Naitha,i who was at the spot, said, “I will ask my personnel to be more cordial with migrant workers.”

Sanket Kumar, who is native of Rae Bareli, said he finally arrived at Kavi Nagar on Monday afternoon from Ahmedabad.

“I started four days ago from Gulab Nagar in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and reached Ghaziabad after taking lifts in trucks. Then I walked on foot to Ghanta Ghar and stood in a long queue. Then, someone finally told me that documentation for trains to UP cities will be done at Kavi Nagar. Then I walked to Kavi Nagar and am trying my luck here now to get a boarding pass,” he added.

Though the situation was slightly better at Kavi Nagar, a number of migrants here accused officials of laxity in making proper arrangements. The workers here had gathered since late Sunday night in order to board trains bound for Gorakhpur, Prayagraj and Varanasi at 3pm, 4.30pm and 6.30pm, respectively.

“For the past three days we were holed up at a shelter home in Morta. Around 6am on Monday, we were brought to Kavi Nagar by buses but there are no train for our hometown, Bareilly. If there was no train to Bareilly, then why were we brought here and made to sit in the scorching heat? Our children got food only around 2pm,” said Shabana, a migrant worker who had come from Punjab along with her group .

“This is utter chaos and no one seems to care. We came to Ghaziabad after a 15-day long journey on foot from Punjab and were taken to shelter home after the group was picked up by police three days ago,” she added.

MS Garbyal, additional district magistrate who is supervising operations at Kavi Nagar, said that UP Roadways buses brought workers to the ground on Monday morning.

“After the required seats were filled, those left behind will be sent by buses back to shelter homes. They will have to wait for the next trains to their hometowns,” he added.