Una / May 15 / Rajan Chabba
As many as 1,486 Himachalis with a smile of solace and comfort on their faces returned to their home State, when the train halted at 7:00 am at Una Railway Station today. All these Himachalis, who were stranded at Goa due to countrywide lockdown, were desperate to return to their home. They were received amid clapping by the employees who were deputed at the Railway Station to facilitate them.
DC Sandeep Kumar, SP Kartikeyan Gokulchandran, ADC Arindam Chaudhary, ASP Vinod Dhiman were present on the occasion to receive these people.
Deputy Commissioner told that the batch which arrived on Friday, consisted of 397 passengers from Kullu, 415 from Mandi, 80 from Shimla, one from Kinnaur, two from Lahaul and Spiti, 322 from Kangra, 20 from Solan, 53 from Hamirpur, 7 from Una and 24 from Bilaspur. These people were asked to get down district wise to follow social distancing. HRTC buses were hired to send them to their destinations. Two exit gates were planned to take them out of railway station. Their hands were sanitized; all were thermally screened and were given food and drinking water. Passengers of Kullu district were the first to alight at the railway station and brought to the help desk, followed by Lahual and Spiti, Mandi, Shimla, Kinnaru, Chamba, Kangra, Solan, Sirmaur, Bilaspur, Hamirpur and Una.
Sandeep Kumar told that people of Una district would be kept in the institutional quarantine and their samples would be collected for Corona virus testing. If the report comes negative, they will be kept under home quarantine for 14 days. Trains from Maharashtra and Chennai will be arriving soon, for which the administration has already geared up. “Those Himachalis who want to come to their State, can apply on covid19epass.hp.gov.in. Their pass will facilitate them as their rail ticket. The State Govt. is bearing all expenses”, he said.
DC told that the food was distributed among them with the help of Radha Swami Satsang Ghar. A total of 2,100 packets of food were given to the employees at the Railway Station for futher distribution. As many as 35 volunteers of Radha Swami Satsang helped the administration from cooking to packing. DC thanked all of them including their team leader Gurmukh Singh, Secretary, Bhadsali.