Covid lockdown: Over 8,700 people, many of them migrant workers, died along railway tracks in 2020

As many as 8,733 people, most of whom were migrants, were killed on railway tracks in 2020 despite a halt on passenger train services amid the countrywide lockdown due to the Covid-19 crisis, PTI reported on Wednesday.

The Railway Board shared the data on the deaths that occurred between January and December 2020 in response to a question by Madhya Pradesh-based activist Chandra Shekhar Gaur under the Right to Information Act.

“Based on the information received from the State Police, 805 people suffered injuries and 8,733 people died on the railway track between January 2020 and December 2020,” the Railway Board has said.

Many of those who died were home-bound migrant workers who chose to walk along the railway tracks as train routes were considered to be shorter than road or highways, a railway official said, according to PTI. The officials said they also chose to walk along the tracks to avoid the police for violating lockdown norms.

“They also assumed that no trains would be running because of the lockdown,” one of the officials told PTI.

Only cargo trains were operating during the countrywide lockdown that began from March 25. The railways began the “Shramik Special” trains for the migrants from May 1.

Passenger trains have been gradually reopening with…

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