At least seven deaths on-board migrant special trains were reported on Wednesday, officials said, putting the Railways in the dock over its handling of these non-AC trains.
On her way to her home state Uttar Pradesh from here on a Shramik special train, a nine month pregnant woman suddenly developed labour pains and gave birth to a baby girl, aided by women travelling with her.
The Indian Railways has operated 366 "Shramik Special" trains since May 1 and ferried home around four lakh migrants stranded in various parts of the country amid the coronavirus-induced lockdown, officials said.
The Karnataka government has withdrawn its request to the railways to run special trains to ferry migrant labourers to their home states, hours after builders met Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa to apprise him of the problems to the construction sector in case they left.
Amidst criticism over the railways charging stranded migrant workers for ferrying them home, payments for 45 special trains that have run so far have been made by originating states, barring Maharashtra, Kerala and Karnataka, sources said on Monday.
The government has not talked about charging anything from migrant labourers as 85 per cent of the transportation cost is borne by the railways and 15 per cent by state governments, the Centre said on Monday.
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