Still unexplained
The hunt for the origins of Covid-19 has for the past four years been a tangled web of politics, power struggles, and international finger-pointing.
After losing their livelihoods due to the lockdown enforced to prevent the spread of Covid-19, over 1,80,000 migrant workers have left Punjab for their home states through 150 special trains even as over 1o lakh more have registered for returning to their native states through the government transport.
The nodal officer Vikas Pratap said Punjab government plans to send over 200 trains in next 10 days and the numbers would increase in near future at the maximum possible extent. He said that Punjab is likely to send more than 20 more trains daily.
Out of total 150 special trains sent so far, maximum trains (57) have gone from Ludhiana with another 45 trains Jalandhar have taken migrants to different parts of the country. Other places from where trains have departed include Amritsar, Patiala, Mohali, Bathinda, Ferozepur and Sirhind. Maximum trains are going to Uttar Pradesh followed by Bihar and Jharkhand.
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Punjab government is also sending trains to Chattisgarh, Manipur, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. Assuring the state’s commitment to go the extra mile to mitigate their sufferings, Pratap said food, water and other essentials were also being provided to all those travelling back home for their journey.
Besides, nodal officers have been deputed for all these states who are pro-actively connecting to their counterparts in other states to facilitate the return of the migrants, and teams constituted at the level of the deputy commissioners for the mandatory medical screening of migrants.
Only those are being allowed to board the trains, who are found to be asymptomatic. Since 1 May, over 15.6 lakh migrant workers have registered through Punjab government portal for return to their native states. Of these, over 12 lakh have requested for government transport.
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