Industries worried as migrants head home for Chhath; Rlys runs spl trains

The industries have started feeling the heat of skilled and unskilled labour shortage with a large number of them leaving to attend Chhath Puja with their families at their native places in Bihar.

Rambhawan Goswami of Uttar Pradesh Kalyan Parishad says about 30,000 people residing in Amritsar with roots in Eastern UP and Bihar were on their way to their native places to celebrate Chhath Puja, take part in weddings with the start of the marriage season from November 2, and also to cast their votes in the Bihar assembly election which is to be held in two phases on November 4 and November 11.

Dr Mahipal Singh, founder of Bihar Vikas Manch, said there were about 80,000 Biharis as per the 2011 census and a majority of them settled here would be celebrating their festival along the canal near Tara Wala Pul and Durgiana temple.

Kamal Dalmi, an industrialist, said across the district collectively, industries would face around 10 per cent labour shortage for the next few days. He said there would not be a sharp decline in factory output as the availability of labour would be different in each factory.

Meanwhile, the Ferozepur Division of Railways made extensive arrangements at Amritsar railway station to facilitate passengers travelling to major stations to celebrate the Chhath festival. In addition to the regular scheduled five east-bound trains, two festival special trains to Chapra and Kishanganj would be operated for the convenience of passengers tomorrow.

Two festival special trains will operate on October 25. Train 05050 will depart from Amritsar to Chhapra at 6:45 pm and train 05733 will depart to Kishanganj at 4:25 am on October 25.

Railway stations are being continuously monitored through rooms located in the Railway Board, head offices and divisional offices so that passengers do not face any inconvenience.

Adequate railway staff and officials have been deployed at the railway station to assist passengers. Furthermore, the division's Scouts and Guides personnel are continuously guiding and assisting senior citizens, disabled persons, women and others.

For the convenient travel of rail passengers, 10 festival special trains have been operated from October 21 to October 24. From October 21-23, 3,28,138 passengers travelled towards their destinations from Ferozepur division.