The Ministry of Railways addressed the media at 4 pm on Saturday, 23 May, during which it as well as the Ministry of Home Affairs spoke about the Shramik trains for migrants and the efforts taken by the government.
"More than 2,600 special trains have run till date, more than 35 Lakh migrants have availed the benefits of these trains," says Punya Salila Srivastava, Joint Secretary, MHA, said at the joint press conference.
The Railway Board Chairman noted that "80% of the train journeys have been undertaken by the migrant labourers of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar so far."
He also confirmed that the West Bengal Chief Secretary has asked him to stop the trains to WB due to Cyclone Amphan. "As soon as they give us a clearance, we'll run the trains to West Bengal," he added.
MORE HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PRESS CONFERENCE
On the question of how long will it take for the migrants to reach home, the Railways Ministry said:
Two days ago, the Railways Ministry had announced 200 passenger trains from 1 June.
Earlier, the Railways Ministry had said the tickets can be booked through the IRCTC website or its mobile app only.
However, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said that the booking of train tickets would resume at around 1.7 lakh common service centres (CSC) across the country.
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