A special train carrying 1,250 migrant workers left Hyderabad for Bihar early yesterday, officials said.
The train left the Ghatkesar railway station near Hyderabad at 3.05am for Khagaria in Bihar.
Before boarding, the workers were screened by officials of Telangana health department.
Rachakonda Police Commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat, who flagged off the train along with other officials, said the passengers were given breakfast and water bottles.
Senior officials Ronald Ross and Rajat Saini, Medchal District Collector Venkateshwarlu and senior officials of the railways supervised the arrangements.
This was the second special train operated from Telangana to send back migrant workers to their home states.
The first train carrying 1,225 migrants left for Jharkhand on May 1.
This was the first train for migrants anywhere in the country.
Earlier in the day, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao said 40 special trains would be operated daily over the next one week to send back migrant workers to their respective states.
He said the trains will be operated from various stations in Hyderabad, Warangal, Khammam, Ramagundam, Damaracharla and other places to Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and other states.
The state government said migrant workers who have registered their names with police would be allowed to travel by the special trains.
The chief minister said no migrant labour should feel anxious as the government had made arrangements for their travel.
His announcement came amid protests by workers in Hyderabad and other parts of the state demanding immediate transport arrangements to send them home.
A group of migrant workers on Monday night tried to reach the Kacheguda railway station in Hyderabad.
They started walking from Aramghar crossroads on the outskirts and were heading towards the station.
Police stopped them at Bahadurpura and assured them that transport arrangements would soon be made for them.
They convinced the workers to stay at a temporary shelter in Shamshabad.
Meanwhile, a large number of migrant workers yesterday lined up at police stations in and around Hyderabad and other districts to register their names.
Police had a tough time in controlling the crowd at the Kukatpally police station.
The gathering by the workers took the police by surprise and at one point they had to use mild force to disperse them.
Special trains for migrant workers have also started from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.
The first train carrying 1,212 workers for Maharashtra departed early yesterday from Rayanapadu railway station near Vijayawada.
Meanwhile in a controversy erupted yesterday a day after Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan scoffed at the Congress move to buy train tickets for stranded migrants.
The opposition party claimed it offered a total Rs50 lakh in five districts but that officials had refused.
Kerala Congress president Mullapally Ramachandran said: “On Monday, he was belittling us. But today, in five districts, our party office-bearers approached authorities with cheques for Rs10 lakh each to buy train tickets for migrant labourers, but the money was not accepted.”
“He is forgetting which chair he is sitting on. It’s unbecoming of a chief minister to show frequent outbursts. It would be better if he reins himself.”
But Vijayan said since the state government was not paying for the travel of migrants, “we are not taking any money for this from anyone”.
“The state government has no role in this issue as it’s done by the Centre,” the chief minister said.
Hitting back at Ramachandran, he said: “I precisely know the importance of the chair I now occupy. That’s why I am not giving a tit-for-tat reply on every issue,” Vijayan remarked.
Over 3.80 lakh migrant labourers are lodged in over 18,000 camps in Kerala.
Since Saturday, around 15,000 have left for their states on special trains.
Also yesterday, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said the Odia migrants willing to return from Surat in Gujarat can travel only by train.
Buses carrying returnees from Surat will not be allowed inside the state, he said.
The decision was taken by the chief minister keeping in mind the number of accidents by buses carrying the returnees and various inconveniences faced by children and women passengers due to the long-distance journey.
Three accidents took place with buses carrying stranded Odias from Surat in the last few days.
Stranded migrant workers sit in a waiting hall before registering with police for a movement pass to be able to return to their hometowns, on the outskirts of Hyderabad yesterday.
