Bihar has committed to permitting 50 'Shramik Special' trains per day, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said today, amid a growing scare in the state of coronavirus infections among the past returnees.
The state, having received over three lakh migrants since the Railways resumed operations on May 1, with more than 50,000 people currently in transit, observed a rise in the number of coronavirus cases after the Shramik Special trains began arriving.
"I am very happy to inform that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and I had a fruitful discussion about the migrant workers of Bihar and he has given permission to run 50 Shramik Special trains per day to take them home," Mr Goyal tweeted in Hindi.
Officials, however, said 50 trains per day were not enough to ferry around 40 lakh migrants of the state stranded across the country. "In reality, the state needs to run 200 per day to carry its migrants home," an official said.
Bihar is, however, only behind Uttar Pradesh in giving approvals for Shramik Special trains. There has been a spurt in COVID-19 cases in Bihar since the beginning of this month when the return of migrants gained momentum with the plying of the trains.
As of May 16, around 2.5 lakh people have returned to the state by train since May 4 and the number of migrants who have tested positive for COVID-19 stands at 358, the state Health Department said.
Bihar has reported 1,012 coronavirus cases so far, of whom seven have died.
The state has an estimated 40-45 lakh migrant population working across several states, though there is no definite statistics on it.
Bihar Leader's Father Murdered Over Rs 1 Lakh He Lent, Key Accused Arrested Bihar Man, His 2 Daughters, Stabbed To Death By Girl's Lover: Police "Take Immediate Action": Rahul Gandhi On INDIA's Bihar Ally Brutal Murder World's Largest Isolated Tribe Makes Rare Appearance In New Footage "Sell Golgappas?": Kangana Ranaut On Shankaracharya's Remark On E Shinde Why BJP Lost Lok Sabha Polls In Uttar Pradesh - 6 Reasons In Party Report Bengaluru Blues: When Policies Clash With Progress PM Modi Chairs Security Meet Amid Rising Terror Attacks In Jammu 2 Soldiers Injured As Another Encounter Breaks Out In J&K's Doda Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.