Arrangements have been put in place to receive the first migrants special train' carrying 1,150 people stranded during the coronavirus-triggered lockdown, to Odisha from Kerala on Sunday morning, official sources said.
The train left Kerala's Ernakulam Railway Station on Friday evening and is expected to reach the Jagannathpur Railway Station in Odisha's Ganjam district on Sunday morning, Manoj Kumar Mishra, Commissioner, Rail Coordination said on Saturday.
He said the special train will have another stoppage at Khurda Road Junction, where it will finally terminate.
The Odisha government has named ferrying stranded natives to their home by trains as Operation Subh Yatra'.
Mishra said all the passengers underwent health screening before boarding the train in Kerala and were issued certification for the journey.
The travelers, who have already registered with the state government's portal, hail from 23 of the Odisha's 30 districts.
The highest (382) journey makers hail from Kandhamal district followed by 283 from Kendrapara and 130 from Ganjam districts. The officials of all the districts have been informed and the travelers will be received at the railway station and later taken to quarantine centres in the respective districts.
The Kerala government's model of sending the stranded Odia people is highly satisfactory and smooth, Mishra said.
He said neither any public nor media will be allowed to enter Jagannathpur and Khurda Road stations when the travelers reach there.
The officials will take care of them on arrival, he said. Similarly, arrangements have been made for carrying more people from Kerala and Gujarat to Odisha.
One more train will leave Kerala Saturday evening and two such trains will come from Gujarat. The train from Gujurat will run till Bhubaneswar, the official said.
All the trains will stop at stipulated stations from where the passengers will go to their villages along with the panchayat level officials, Mishra said, adding all returnees will undergo isolation for 14 days.
Meanwhile, the Ganjam district administration has already received some people from Gujurat by buses.
This apart, 114 students from Landmark City and Mahavir Nagar of Kota in Rajasthan reached Rourkela in four buses on Saturday morning.
Officials said all the students were initially screened in Kota and their health condition was reviewed by experts after their arrival in Rourkela on Saturday.
All of them will now undergo 14-day mandatory quarantine as per the state governments guidelines, the official said.
Official sources added that a group of students along with their teachers stuck in Puri due to lockdown left for Gujarat on Saturday by road.
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