Dharamshala: A special train carrying around 1425 Himachal residents who have been stranded in various parts of the country due to the unprecedented lockdown will reach Una station on Wednesday.
The train has started from Bangaluru, carrying Himachalis of almost all the districts. Elaborating, a government official said that beside 317 passengers of Kangra district , 64 passengers are of Bilaspur, 287 of Chamba, 180 of Hamirpur, 10 of Kinnaur, 51 of Kullu and Lahaul-Spiti, 123 of Mandi, 139 of Shimla, 148 of Solan, 39 of Una and 76 of Sirmaur will arrive at Una. The Railway Station has been divided into eight sectors and all passengers will be screened medically. Persons with flu like symptoms will be separated and sent to hospital. Others will be sent to their destinations through buses, already authorised for it.
Giving more information Sandeep Kumar, deputy commissioner Una said that officers have been assigned duties to make arrangements for the coming passengers. Bus drivers will be provided masks and sanitizers for their protection. All passengers will be kept under institutional quarantine for 14 days. All 39 people from Una will also live in institutional quarantine and will undergo Covid-19 test.
The deputy commissioner added that sign boards were being fixed at the Railway Station so that passengers did not face any difficulty. All officers will be issued duty passes and no person sans pass will be allowed to enter the Station. Some volunteers will also be deputed to help the authorities. Officers from concerned districts will reach at Una to help these passengers to take them to their districts. E-passes of those persons, who have applied for it, will be treated as rail tickets.
Arvind Sharma is an award winning bi-lingual journalist with more than 20 years of experience.
He has worked with Divya Himachal, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhasker, Vir Partap, Ajit and PTI.
In 2010, he was conferred the Himachal Kesri journalism award. He reports on the Tibetan Government in Exile, politics, sports, tourism and other topics. He lives in Dharamshala.
