Nearly six weeks of staying stranded and staying far away from their home states in the wake of the nationwide lockdown, the migrant workers who are stranded in Tamil Nadu had got hope to return to their states and to join their families as the special train arranged by the state government has carried the first batch of workers to Jharkhand. 

The special train, Shramik Special, was the first passenger train to leave Tamil Nadu since the lockdown was imposed. According to the reports, the special train has left Katpadi station, Vellore on late Wednesday night to Jharkhand and it carried 1,230 passengers to their home state. The train will be reaching the Hatia station in Ranchi on Friday morning.

The train was arranged by the Tamil Nadu government after the Jharkhand government has requested to rescue and repatriate the workers stranded in the state. The special train has 22 coaches and the authorities had permitted only the asymptomatic people to board the train and the passengers were screened at the station before the departure. They have been advised to adhere the social distancing norms during their travel. 

The reports stated that the special train was arranged after a meeting at the Vellore Collectorate and the workers had assembled at the collector's office to put out their reason for their return and the names of the passengers had also been submitted to the district collector. The migrant workers were brought to the Katpadi station from the marriage halls and temporary shelters where they were staying due to lockdown. 

These migrant workers were repatriated to Jharkhand exactly a day after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami said that the state currently has over 50,000 migrant workers. While addressing the reporters on Tuesday, he put out the information and asserted that these workers would be sent home gradually. The state government's team will be touring the temporary shelters and camps of the workers to ascertain the details of people who wish to return to their state. 

The drive of transporting the migrant workers to their respective states has come amid the restrictions and Chennai had also seen the protests organized by the migrant workers last week to demand the government to send them to their home states. The complete lockdown, which has been extended twice, across the nation has levied more burden to such workers across the state.

They have been residing at the temporary camps with limited access to money and other essentials. Some of the workers had hit the roads and walked to their home states. After the Tamil Nadu government has sent the Jharkhand workers to their state, the migrant workers of other states had demanded the state government to arrange transportations for them to return to their home states.