Raipur: He does not know what lies in future, but Narendra Sahu is happy because he is returning home after being stuck in Hyderabad since lockdown was imposed in March.
Sahu was among migrant labourers who were ferried to Chhattisgarh by a `Shramik special train’ from Telangana on Tuesday morning.
His village is in Gariaband district, around 90 km from here.
Sahu said he worked in Hyderabad as part of a team of labourers whose job was to lay pipelines. After the work ceased and lockdown came into effect in the last week of March, he was desperate to return home.
“I am happy to have come back safely. I am thankful to the government,” he said.
Asked about his future plans, he said he had not given much thought to it and his immediate concern was only to reach home.
Sahu was among 178 passengers including workers, students and others who alighted at Raipur station around 11.30 am after the special train from Lingampally (Hyderabad) to Bilaspur arrived.
The passengers were from various districts including Raipur, Gariaband, Bastar, Dhamtari, Kanker and Dantewada, a local official said.
Besides Raipur, the train also halted at Rajnandgaon and Durg before heading for Bilaspur.
After medical screening at the railway station, people were sent to their districts by buses and they will be kept in quarantine centers for 14 days as a precautionary measure against coronavirus spread, the official said.
Those returning to Raipur city were lodged at the Dharampur quarantine facility while those traveling further to rural parts of the districts will be quarantined at gram panchayat and school buildings in their native places, he said.
Another Shramik special train reached Bilaspur at 12.45 pm on Tuesday from Ahmedabad, carrying around 1,200 migrants who were stranded in Gujarat, the official said.