By spring and summer, these workers were so desperate that the government provided emergency trains to carry them back to their home villages. The trains were called Shramik Specials, because shramik means “labourer” in Hindi. The trains became contagion zones: Every passenger was supposed to be screened for COVID-19 before boarding but few if any were tested. Then the trains disgorged passengers into distant villages, in regions that before had few if any coronavirus cases. Untouched by the virus, Ganjam soon became one of India’s most heavily infected rural districts after the migrants started returning.

Source: bd News24 December 16, 2020 04:07 UTC