AGARTALA, May 13 - A special train carrying 1,160 stranded people of Tripura working in Karnataka, today reached the Agartala Railway Station around 4 pm amid tight security arrangements.
Soon after the train arrived at the platform, security personnel cordoned off the area and passengers were asked to proceed one after another to health desks by following social distancing rules. These passengers had boarded the train at Bengaluru on Sunday evening.
All the passengers were screened through thermal scanners inside the railway station and those who were found asymptomatic, were sent to home quarantine for 17 days, while those showing symptoms were sent to facility quarantine centres.
It took around three-and-a-half hours to check all the passengers who came in the train. The train was later sanitized before it left the station. The entire process was carried out under the supervision of the District Magistrate of West Tripura, Dr Sandeep Mahatme, and SP, GRP, Pinkati Samanta.
�I am happy as first batch of stranded persons returned to state safely. They are now undergoing proper screening as per health protocols. With blessings of Mata Tripurasundari, all stranded people will be brought back soon,� Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb said in a Facebook post.
Altogether 12,782 persons of the State have been stranded in different parts of Karnataka. They have registered their names to return home. As many as 37,721 persons, who are stuck in 11 States due to the ongoing lockdown, have registered their names on the State Government-run online portal till date. A total of 8,129 people are stranded in Tamil Nadu, 6,174 in West Bengal, 1,470 in Assam, 1,382 in Telangana, 1,400 in Maharashtra and 801 in Delhi.
Another batch of 1,400 stranded people staying in Bengaluru will leave for Tripura by another special train on May 15 or 16 and 1,400 people who are stuck in Maharashtra, are scheduled to take the homeward journey on the same dates.
