Karnataka has got consent from six States to operate Shramik specials trains to ferry migrant workers to their respective States.

Manjunath Prasad, Karnataka’s nodal officer in-charge of the movement of migrants out of the State, acknowledged that the State has got consent from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Jharkand, Delhi and Odisha.

Currently, about 2.51 lakh workers have registered to go to their native states.

On Friday, Uttar Pradesh government gave consent to operate two Shramik specials trains from Bengaluru to Lucknow.

Train to Bihar

After the Bihar government gave consent to receive migrants from Karnataka, a train to Danapur (Bihar) left on Friday, carrying around 1,200 migrant workers.

The police and BBMP officials, without revealing to public the railway stations, ferried migrant workers to the station and saw them off.

S Suresh Kumar, Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister, said “migrant workers are being taken straight from construction sites spread across the city. The Labour Department is sending workers based on the data collected by them and availability of seats in each train.”

Clear liquor stock

In another development, the State government has allowed pubs, recreation clubs and hotels to sell their existing liquor stock by May 17.

The stock is to be sold at MRP rates and only takeaways are permitted. This move comes after the government allowed liquor sales last week.

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