On Sunday, when the city stayed indoors due to the ‘Janata Curfew’, tense moments prevailed at the Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. MGR Chennai Central railway station, as thousands of migrant labourers, waiting to get to their home towns, were caught unawares after the trains stood cancelled.
The Southern Railway had cancelled all train services on Sunday as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19. According to the police, most passengers had come from Kerala on Saturday night, hoping to go to their home towns — mostly in Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal — on Sunday.
After arriving in Chennai, the Southern Railway, with the help of the Tamil Nadu Disaster Response Force (TNDRF), screened many of them for COVID-19 symptoms. The police then made them leave the station.
“Thousands of labourers arrived at the station, hoping to catch the evening train. When they came to know that long-distance and inter-city express trains were cancelled till March 31, they squatted outside the railway station in protest,” said a police officer. A large posse of policemen were deployed to prevent a law and order situation.
The Southern Railway requested the Greater Chennai Corporation to make arrangements for the labourers. By 5 p.m., police personnel dispersed the crowd of stranded passengers from the Central station. Some of them were requesting auto drivers to take them to government relief centres or night shelters, but auto drivers were not aware of the location of these shelters.
Food supplied
Later, many of the stranded passengers gathered at the Central Square near the railway station. But the police asked them to leave the area. By 5.30 p.m., many passengers in the crowd walked towards the Park railway station and many headed towards the Egmore railway station. “We did not have lunch today. We do not have money,” said Nitin, a passenger from Gujarat.
Corporation Deputy Commissioner (Health) Madhusudan Reddy, who visited in the evening, said the civic body supplied food for 4,500 stranded passengers at noon. “The passengers do not know the local language. So Corporation officials have been asked to take them to relief centres. Corporation will give accommodation for the stranded passengers in 25 shelters, for 10 days. We have made arrangements for toilet facilities, food and water,” said Mr. Reddy.
Later in the evening, the Corporation accommodated 1,145 passengers, who were stranded at the Central railway station, in Corporation community halls in Tiruvottiyur, Madhavaram, Royapuram, Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar, Anna Nagar, Teynampet and Kodambakkam. But many of the stranded passengers who were chased away by the police from the Central railway station could not be traced.
Published - March 23, 2020 01:32 am IST
