Over 1,100 Bihar migrants return home from Rajasthan, praise employers for food during lockdown

Migrants from Jaipur arrive by ‘shramic special' train at Danapur during on nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus in Patna on Saturday. (Express Photo by Ashok Sinha)

There were signs of happiness and relief behind their ‘masked expressions' as they disembarked from a special train at Danapur railway station on Friday. The train from Jaipur ferried 1,174 migrant workers and their family members who were stuck in Rajasthan as the nation-wide lockdown came into effect on March 23. Some of them did not even wait for their salaries to board the first special train from Jaipur to Patna.

Most of the migrant workers, who were wearing masks and maintaining social distancing, had come from Nagaur district of Rajasthan where they worked in road construction, cement and salt factories. Some of them had bought train tickets, while for others, their employers arranged tickets. These migrants are from North Bihar districts of Vaishali, Muzaffarpur, Samastipur, Madhepura, West Champaran, Saharsa and Supaul.

The state government has arranged buses (district-wise) to take them to their respective block headquarters, where…